SC says United Spirits liable for entry tax payment in Madhya Pradesh
This story was originally published at 20:07 IST on 14 July 2025
Register to read our real-time news.Informist, Monday, Jul. 14, 2025
NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Monday held that United Spirits Ltd. was liable for the payment of entry tax under the Madhya Pradesh Sthaniya Kshetra Me Mal Ke Pravesh Par Kar Adhiniyam, 1976. Entry Tax is defined as a tax on entry of goods into a local area for use, consumption or sale, levied and payable in accordance with the provisions of the 1976 Act.
"...it is clear that the appellants by the sale to the warehouse caused to be affected the entry of goods and the entry was occasioned on the account of the sale into the local area for consumption, use or sale therein," said the bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and K.V. Viswanathan. It is also not disputed that the petitioner United Spirits is a dealer as defined under the Madhya Pradesh Value Added Tax Act, 2002, said the top court.
The petitioner had argued that that there was "no privity of contract" between them and the retailers and that it was the state government warehouse which sold the goods to the retailers. It is the warehouse which causes the movement of the goods into the local area, said the petitioner. United Spirits said that undisputedly the state government warehouse distributes the goods and whether as a seller or as a distributor, the latter acquires the status of a dealer under the Act, which makes them liable for the payment of the Entry Tax. The state government argued that the warehouse neither purchases nor sells the liquor and the work undertaken was only to supervise the sale made by the manufacturer to the retailer.
On Monday, the shares of United Spirits Ltd. ended 0.5% higher at INR 1,364.00 on the National Stock Exchange. End
Reported by Surya Tripathi
Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury
For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.
Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.
Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000
Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com
© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.
To read more please subscribe
Share this Story:
