Bengaluru: The excise department will e-auction 483 CL-2A retail liquor shop licences and 96 CL-9A bar licences, with bidding to be held in the last week of July.The move is part of a broader exercise to monetise unused licences and improve revenue collection. Officials said the system will bring in greater transparency in allotment through an electronic bidding process.The licences will be granted for a period of five excise years, from 2026-27 to 2030-31. Bengaluru Urban has the highest base price at Rs 1.5 crore per licence, followed by cities such as Belagavi, Ballari, Mysuru, Dharwad, and Hubballi at around Rs 1.1 crore.The decision flows from the 2025-26 budget, in which the govt proposed e-auctioning unused liquor licences as part of efforts to boost additional resource mobilisation for the state exchequer.The new notification also states that Rule 5 of the Karnataka Excise (Sale of Indian & Foreign Liquors) Rules, 1968 has been amended to introduce reservation in the e-auction of CL-2A and CL-9A licences.Under the revised structure, 5.2% of licences each will be reserved for Scheduled Caste-A and Scheduled Caste-B categories, 4.5% for Scheduled Caste-C category, and 3% for Scheduled Tribe applicants.Excise officials said the proposal is aimed at extending reservation principles to self-employment opportunities for marginalised communities, similar to the model followed in education and govt jobs. Several states, including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, have adopted similar approaches depending on local requirements, an official added. A similar attempt in Karnataka many years ago had met with a legal challenge.
