The Excise Department of Sri Lanka has reported a growth of over 60% in revenue over the past three years, and the main reason for this growth in revenue is the optimal tax revenue generated by affixing security stickers on liquor bottles, the Excise Department says.
The department stated that the aim of this security sticker project was to collect the appropriate tax from all liquor bottles produced in Sri Lankan liquor factories, and accordingly, the project to affix the security sticker to all liquor bottles produced in the country was initiated in January 2022.
The Excise Department, which started the project in 2022, earned a revenue of Rs. 170 billion, which is an increase of Rs. 30 billion compared to 2021. The department also stated that the revenue continued to grow, earning a revenue of Rs. 178 billion in 2023 and Rs. 226 billion in 2024.
The Excise Department was able to generate an excise revenue of Rs. 190 billion in the nine-month period from 1 January to 30 September 2025. The department stated that the revenue target given to the Sri Lanka Excise Department by the Government for the year 2025 was Rs. 242 billion, while the target for the nine-month period from January to September was only Rs. 177 billion.
Accordingly, the Excise Department had earned a revenue of Rs. 13.4 billion more than the targeted revenue, and the growth in that revenue had exceeded 107%, which was an 18% increase compared to the year 2024, stated then-Excise Commissioner General M.B.N.A. Pemaratne.
When this project was initiated, it was alleged that many liquor manufacturing companies had not taken steps to affix the security sticker on liquor bottles, resulting in a loss of about 50% of the excise revenue due to the Government. The Excise Department took steps to make the project a success by conducting investigations and raids in this regard. As a result, the main goal expected through this project, which was to increase tax revenue, has been achieved, and the other goals of this project, which are to produce quality liquor products in the country and to easily identify substandard counterfeit liquor, have also been successfully achieved.
The affixing of security stickers on all liquor bottles produced in the country’s liquor factories began on 3 January 2022. The contract for affixing this sticker was awarded to Madras Security Printers (MSP) of India and as per the contract, a sum of $ 5.99 was paid to MSP for 1,000 security stickers. Accordingly, the Ministry of Finance had stated that one security sticker would cost Rs. 1.21.
The Ministry of Finance stated that this project will coordinate the application of the security sticker by 70 different excise licensed liquor manufacturing establishments operating throughout Sri Lanka, as well as 18 liquor importing establishments, and that these security seals, which come in two types, will be introduced as Foolproof Stickers and Secure Digital Printing.
The technology and production capacity of liquor manufacturing establishments determine which security seal to use, and a new application has been prepared and submitted to the ‘CERT’ institute based on the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Business (COPE) regarding this sticker.