Days before new liquor policy makes booze costlier,UT gets tipsy on spirited discounts

With no mechanism in place to check the unabated sale of liquor,however,vendors and customers are having a free run. Insiders are also claiming that the market prices could dip further after the auction of liquor vends on April 23,if the prefabricated licensees are not able to secure their vends.

A visit to a few of the vends in the city revealed that it is the medium brands such as Mc Dowell,Imperial Blue,ACP and Green Label,which are mostly being offered at the discounted rates.

“High-end brands such as Chivas Regal and Black Dog are bought by a few people and those who buy them at Rs 1,300-2,300 now,would not mind paying a few hundred more later. So the sales of these ultra deluxe brands have not picked up as such,” said a manager at one of the vends.

The excise department is also set to take a revenue-hit as 38 vends,beside roads,are to shut down by May. The department has collected a revenue of Rs.276.47 crore up to March 31 2013,as against Rs.206.97 crore in the year 2011-12. The 38 vends located on the road side had earned revenue of Rs 50 crore in the year 2012-13.

Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner Naresh Dubey said: “ We are keeping a regular tab on the vends and no body is allowed to sell the liquor at lower prices than the prescribed. So far we have not got any reports on liquor being sold for less.”

In fact,many of the contractors rue that they have not been able to dispose of last year’s stock and are left with no choice but to exhaust the allocated quota by selling them at a lower price. “If we do not offer discounts and clear the stocks,we will have to pay excise duty against the allocated quota from our pocket,” said a Sector-35 based contractor.

The annual quota of countrymade liquor for the ongoing policy and also for the new policy is unchanged at 27 lakh proof litre (PL) and that of IMFL 2 crore PL. Tenders invited for the policy beginning May 1 would be opened on April 23. Continuing with the existing policy,licenses will be granted for 65 country made liquor vends and 152 IMFL vends.

Beer prices to go up

A meeting of the excise contractors was held recently wherein it was mutually decided by over 70 liquor contractors that beer prices will go up by Rs 30 per bottle soon. The deceision was taken after the UT administration has in the new excise policy hiked Rs 23 per case for light beer and Rs 17 for strong beer per case.