LUCKNOW, April 4 -- Setting a record, the Uttar Pradesh excise department earned over Rs.52,000 crore revenue in the 2024-25 fiscal, said state excise minister Nitin Agarwal here on Thursday. He also said the state government was upgrading itself in terms of use of technology to bring in more transparency and to curb tax evasion and inter-state liquor smuggling."The excise department has generated the highest ever revenue of Rs.52,297.08 crore in 2024-25 financial year (these are provisional figures). This is Rs. 6,726.61 crore (14.76 percent) more than the revenue of Rs. 45,570.47 crore generated in 2023-24. In 2022-23, the revenue earned by the excise department was Rs.41,252.24 crore," Agarwal said at a press conference at his official residence here. The minister also said the concept of composite shops has been introduced in the state for the first time. He said, "In the year 2024-25, there were 6,563 shops of foreign liquor, while there were 5,970 beer shops in the state. In this way, a total of 12,553 shops were operational."This has been reduced to 9,362 composite shops in 2025-26. In the first phase, 9,316 shops were allotted through e-lottery, while in the second phase, the remaining 46 shops were allotted through e-lottery," Agarwal said."Despite the reduction in the number of shops, the excise revenue of the state is intact. In the e-lottery, the department earned Rs 2,318.77 crore as processing fee," he said. He said out of 16,052 retail shops of country made liquor in the state, 15,662 were allotted in the first phase of e-lottery and 386 in the second phase. He said the memoranda of understanding that the excise department inked with various investors to the tune of around Rs.39,708 crore was likely to generate 72,474 jobs....