The state government, hoping to bridge the revenue gap and augment resources, has announced the schedule for auctioning 569 suspended/unallotted liquor licenses across Karnataka.
The live e-auction, which will bring transparency in allocation, will be held between January 13 and January 20, 2026 and is expected to fetch between ₹ 600 and ₹ 1,000 crores to the exchequer.
While the base price in some interior rural areas has been fixed at ₹70,000, the highest base price of ₹1.5 million has been fixed for 101 licenses in Bengaluru city.
Some licenses in Mangaluru and Mysuru have a base price of ₹1.1 million and in Tumakuru the base price is ₹1 trillion.
Apart from monetization of land and increase in excise duty on liquor, e-auction of liquor licenses was among the means to raise resources to bridge the revenue deficit.
The rationalization of the GST rate in October, an increase in residual collection by the Centre, which is not passed on to the states and unable to raise the expected ₹ 3,000 crore through mine taxes, has hit the expected mobilization of the state’s revenue sources.
The state expects a revenue cut of between ₹15,000,000 and ₹18,000 crore this fiscal, even as it is under pressure to fund its five guarantee schemes totaling about ₹60,000 crore annually.
The e-auction notification through the MSTC portal was issued on Friday and the auctioned license will be awarded for a period of five years with excise duty for the period ending June 30, 2030.
The e-auction of licenses was announced by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who holds the finance portfolio, in the 2025-26 budget.
A note from the government states that the discontinued/unallotted CL (2) for retail outlets and CL (11-C) granted by the government owned Mysore Sales International Ltd. are classified as CL (2-A).
Discontinued CL (9) licenses are classified as CL (9-A). The licenses to be auctioned include 477 CL 2s for retail stores and 92 CL 9s for bar and restaurant licenses across the state.
Of the total number of licenses auctioned in the e-auction, 24% will be reserved for Scheduled Castes (17%) and Scheduled Tribes (7%).
Under the 17% reservation for Scheduled Castes, newly implemented internal reservation matrix of 6% each for Category A (Dalit Left-Madigas) and Category B (Dalit Right-Holeyas) and 5% for Category C (Lambani, Bhovi, Korama and Koracha along with 59 Alemar nomadic communities) will be provided.
The electronic auction of licenses has generated interest in the liquor industry since the state’s last allocation of liquor licenses in 1992-1993.
In the absence of new licences, existing licenses are leased to licensees at higher rates, particularly in urban centres.
A government notification said that changes have been made in the excise duty rules. The process of registration of bidders will start on Monday and the training of prospective bidders and district level e-auction officers will be held from 23rd December 2025 to 7th January 2026.
Published – 21 Dec 2025 19:52 IST
