2026-05-11
Goa’s excise department is preparing a new tracking system for liquor bottles that would give the state a bottle-level record of alcohol moving through the market, in a move aimed at tightening oversight, reducing revenue losses and curbing counterfeit and untaxed products.
The department has floated a tender through Goa Electronics Ltd. for a 2D code-based track-and-trace system and high-security excise adhesive labels, or HSEAL, that would be fixed on liquor bottles to identify and authenticate each product. The plan would extend monitoring beyond the current digital setup and create what officials describe as end-to-end visibility from production or import to final sale.
According to the tender document, the system is intended to help detect counterfeit liquor, non-duty-paid alcohol, unauthorized distribution and diversion. It also seeks to close gaps in bottle-level traceability and label management that remain even with the Goa Excise Management System, known as GEMS, which already handles parts of the industry’s regulatory process.
The department said it is responsible for regulating manufacture, import, transport, storage, distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages in the state, and that stronger enforcement tools are needed because liquor remains a major source of revenue. The document says the existing framework has limited capacity for centralized analytics, anomaly detection and real-time enforcement across the life cycle of labels and products.
The proposed system would be linked with GEMS and is also expected to integrate with the Environment Department’s Deposit Refund Scheme to help reduce waste from plastic, metal and glass containers. The tender calls for an agency to design, develop, implement, operate and maintain the track-and-trace platform as well as print and supply the secure labels for liquor bottles sold in Goa.