Impact of Punjab’s excise policy? Chandigarh finds no takers for over 50% vends

The highest price was fetched by the liquor vend of Palsora that went to Kler Wines for Rs 11.65 crore against the reserve price of Rs 9.60 crore. The second highest liquor vend this time was that of Sector 61 market which borders Punjab area. This liquor vend went to Monarch Wines and fetched Rs 9.55 crore against the reserve price of Rs 9.52 crore.

This time, Chandigarh could earn only half the revenue of what it earned from the auction of vends last year. The auction of a total of 43 vends this time had a reserve price of Rs 202 crore in all and they fetched the UT excise and taxation department only Rs 221 crore while last year, it had earned Rs 420 crore from the auction of liquor vends against the reserve price of Rs 344 crore.

Liquor contractors blamed the “not-so-friendly” UT excise policy this year as compared to that of Punjab.

Darshan Singh Kler, owner of Kler Wines, bought six liquor vends during this auction. He said, “ In Punjab’s excise policy, there is no VAT and excise on liquor while Chandigarh excise policy is not friendly at all. As a result, more than 50 per cent vends could not find any takers. One needs to introduce more incentives to encourage bringing in people to take the liquor vends.”

Asked how then he managed to make the highest bid for a Palsora vend for Rs 11.65 crore, he said, “It is only due to my competition with the rivals. Otherwise, the Palsora vend isn’t any profitable vend at all. Just to compete, I gave that bid.”

Explaining the benefits of the Punjab excise policy, a liquor contractor on the condition of anonymity said, “In Punjab, there is an open quota, but in Chandigarh, they have fixed the liquor quota of 18 lakh liquor boxes for a year. Also, the rates are uniform in Punjab and Panchkula. Why will people from Mohali buy from Chandigarh? Not just this, then there is a high licence fee in the city. There is no deduction in liquor quota, no reduction in VAT, and excise duty. Because of these reasons the Chandigarh excise policy has failed.”

The next higher bid was for the liquor vend of Sector 48 market which was the third highest. This again went to Kler Wines for Rs 8.95 crore against the reserve price of Rs 6.19 crore.

Sector 9 Madhya Marg liquor vend went for Rs 8.15 crore against the reserve price of Rs 7.45 crore and it wen to MLML wines, followed by the vend of Sector 26 transport area market that went for Rs 7.20 crore against the reserve price of Rs 5.74 crore, which went to Akal Sahaye Wines Private Limited.

A senior officer of the Chandigarh excise and taxation department called it the “impact of Punjab excise renewal policy”.
“Because of the Punjab Excise Renewal Policy, people have gone to Punjab. They are bidding there. And during this time, even the auction is going on in Himachal Pradesh. So some bidders went there. We will be holding an auction next week and we hope to get a profitable response,” he said.

In 2022, rates of liquor in Chandigarh were on a par with those in Mohali and Panchkula.

As a face-saving exercise, the UT excise and taxation department released a statement saying “it received a revenue as it registered an increase of approximately 9.5% over the reserve price”.

The opening of e-tenders/ financial bids held at Hotel Parkview, Sector 24, Chandigarh, took place in the presence of senior UT officers.

Trying to lure contractors for the bid of left-out vends later, it also mentioned some ‘benefits’ of excise policy.

“The department is geared up to implement other measures outlined in the policy approved by Hon’ble Governor of Punjab-cum-the Administrator and the Adviser, like granting all new licences, label approval and granting permits/ passes online. This would eliminate the need of any licensee to physically visit the office, thereby promoting transparency and ease of doing business,” it said.

The Excise Policy for 2023-24 was released on March 1.

The liquor vend of Dhanas gets no response

Surprisingly, the liquor vend at Dhanas, located on Punjab border (Mullanpur), which used to fetch the highest bids in the last two years, failed to find any takers this time. Not just this, the liquor vend at Khuda Lahora too found no bidders at all.