Delhi is eagerly waiting for its new Excise Policy to be announced. A committee formed under the leadership of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, with ministers Kailash Gehlot and Satyendra Jain, have suggested some sweeping changes and if the same are adopted, the new policy could not only be beneficial for the consumer but also financially more viable for the Delhi Government’s exchequer.

But the policy is not being announced due to reasons best known to Delhi government and it`s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The term of the existing liquor vends ends on March 31, which is just over a month away. Vend owners are also a confused lot and do not know how will they finish off with their inventory, in case they do not get reallotment of shops.

The sweeping changes suggested by the high-powered committee, suggests allocation of liquor vends through lottery system. But the prevailing liquor syndicate of Delhi is lobbying hard to change the lottery system to e-auction of vends where they can use their money and muscle power to get maximum number of vends.

The reason behind this lobbying is amply clear. Cheap brands, manufactured by the syndicates, are being pushed across to hapless consumers over the counters of wine shops, with much ease.  

Some important recommendations of the committee are as follows -

Registration of Brands

Whiskey - The committee has suggested that brands selling below the retail price of Rs. 601 per bottle would be registered in Delhi only if the brand and its variants have sold a minimum of 1,00,000 (One Lakh) cases each in minimum of five states excluding Delhi which have IMFL industry (Indian Made Foreign Liquor) higher than Delhi and a minimum of 10 lakh cases volume including CSD (Canteen Stores Department) in the previous year all over India, excluding Delhi.

For brands with retail price of more than Rs. 601 per bottle, no sales figures will be required for registration of the brand.

Rum/Vodka - The committee has suggested that brands selling below the retail price of Rs. 501 per bottle would be registered in Delhi only if the brand and its variants have sold a minimum of 10,000 (Ten Thousand) cases each in a minimum of five states excluding Delhi which have IMFL industry (Indian Made Foreign Liquor) higher than Delhi and a minimum of 1 lakh cases volume including CSD (Canteen Stores Department) in the previous year all over India, excluding Delhi.

For brands with a retail price of more than Rs. 501 per bottle, no sales figures will be required for registration of the brand.

Beer

Strong Beer – For Beer Brands above 5 percent alcoholic strength and MRP up to Rs. 150 per bottle, would be registered in Delhi only if the brand and its variants have sold a minimum of 10,00,000 (Ten Lakh) cases including CSD but excluding Delhi, all over India, with registration in at least 5 states.

Lager Beer - For Beer Brands upto 5 percent alcoholic strength and MRP up to Rs. 150 per bottle, would be registered in Delhi only if the brand and its variants have sold a minimum of 5,00,000 (Five Lakh) cases including CSD but excluding Delhi, all over India, with registration in at least 5 states.

For all Beer brands with a retail price of more than Rs. 150 per bottle, no sales figures will be required for registration of the brand.

Brandy and Gin

For these two products, no sale figure shall be required for registration of brands in Delhi.

This recommendation has been made keeping in view of the cheap brands being manufactured out from the neighbourhood of Delhi, which are owned and supplied into Delhi by persons who are already having a number of liquor vends in Delhi. Such cheap brands are being pushed to hapless consumers over the counter by the staff of the liquor vends, denying them quality products as the owner of the liquor vend earns more by selling his self-made product as compared to other quality products.

Raise in Licence Fee

The high-powered committee has proposed raise of licence fee from Rs. 8,00,000 (Eight Lakhs) per year to Rs. 75,00,000 (Seventy-Five Lakhs) per year.

On the other hand, to ensure that the vend owner does not suffer losses due to the steep hike in licence fee, the committee has made another positive recommendation. Till now, the liquor vend owner used to get a profit of Rs. 50 to Rs. 100 per bottle but the committee has proposed a profit of 8 (Eight) percent from the MRP of the product for the vend owner, which will ensure that the hike in licence fee, will compensate the vend owner.

Vend allocation system to be changed

The committee has recommended discontinuation of the practise of auto-renewal of licences. Now vends are to be allotted by lottery and no individual would be allotted more than two vends. This has been done to do away with the existing monopoly and cartelisation in the system as at present, there are individuals holding as many as even twenty vends in Delhi

Delhi State to gain more from Excise Duty

The new excise policy aims to increase the excise duty received by the Delhi Government from existing Rs. 5068.7 crore to 7651 crores per annum. This roughly raises the income of the otherwise cash-strapped Delhi government, to almost Rs. 2500 crore per annum.

Other recommendations

a)  The committee has recommended to raise the number of existing 720 liquor vends in Delhi to 916 for its population of 1.90 crores. As compared to other Metros, Mumbai has 1190 vends against a population of 1.23 crores and Bangalore has 1794 vends across a population of 1.93 crores.  

b)  The committee has recommended raising the permissible drinking age in Delhi from 25 years to 21 years

c)  Recommendation has also been made to extend the timings of the opening of bars and pubs till 3 am.

d)  The committee has recommended the reduction of Dry Days in Delhi from 21 to 03 as compared to neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. This has point has been made to reduce the loss of excise duty as on these additional dry days, tipplers thong to Noida/Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh and Gurgaon/Faridabad to get their quota of drinks.

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