Delhi adds 350 liquor shops since September 1
1 min read . Updated: 27 Jan 2023, 09:44 AM IST
Premium- At present, Delhi has 566 liquor stores and the city sees the sale of 1.2-1.3 million bottles every day
As many as 350 liquor shops have been opened to the public since September 1, when the 2020-21 excise policy came into force.
At present, the national capital has 566 liquor stores and the city sees the sale of 1.2-1.3 million bottles every day.
The liquor shops in Delhi are operated by the city government under four separate agencies -- the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC), Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC), Delhi Consumer’s Cooperative Wholesale Store (DCCWS), and Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (DSCSC).
All the liquor stores are located in marketplaces with high footfall. The selection to open a liquor store is done on several factors- footfalls, parking space, transportation, availability of space so that the presence of buyers does not lead to traffic snarls, visibility of the stores, rent, and 100 metres away from religious places, educational institutions, and hospitals.
While the Delhi excise department had planned to open 700 stores but based on the aforementioned factors, the city government it is taking longer to open the stores.
The 2021-22 excise policy of Delhi aimed to replace a sales-volume-based regime with a license fee for traders. However, the plan failed to work after lieutenant governor VK Saxena recommended a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged irregularities in the regime.
The policy was then scrapped prematurely and replaced by the previous 2020-21 regime, and all private liquor vends were pushed out of the market.
However, an official from the Delhi excise department said they may propose to include private players in Delhi’s liquor space.
Vinod Giri, director general, of the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC), said there were more than 800 liquor stores in 2020 and at present, they have come down to 566. The low number of vends has affected the customer experience, therefore, they have decided to expand the stores in other parts of the city.
