Under old excise policy, Delhi retail liquor trade records sharp decline in Q1 FY2024, shows data

Delhi's excise department has mopped nearly ₹1,700 crore in excise duty and value-added tax (VAT) in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, as per the official data.

The retail trade in liquor recorded a sharp decline as compared to the same period last year when the now-scrapped excise policy of the city government was in place.

According to the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC), the liquor sale recorded a massive 263% growth in the first quarter of 2022.

In FY2022-23, the excise department had raked in ₹6,821 crore by selling over 62 crore liquor bottles-including ₹5,548.48 crore as excise duty and ₹1,272.52 crore as value-added tax.

According to the excise official, the revenue collection in summer months is lower than in winter because of beer.

An official told PTI news agency that, "Beer is preferred during the summer months by customers. It has a lower excise duty, which is why the revenue collection in the first half is always relatively lower as compared to the second half of the financial year when whisky sells more".

In the national capital, Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation, Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation, Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation, and Delhi Consumers' Cooperative Wholesale Stores operate 574 liquor shops in the national capital while more than 930 hotels, clubs, and restaurants serve liquor in the city.

Last year, the new excise of the Delhi government was withdrawn in July after Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in its implementation.

The policy was finally wrapped up on August 31 last year. The old policy under which Delhi government corporations opened liquor vends in the city was rolled out on September 1, 2022.

Despite all the disruptions related to the excise policy changes and the non-availability of many brands, Delhi maintained a healthy annual growth rate of 36% year-on-year, CIABC said.

According to the CIABC data, the liquor sale in the July-September quarter stood at 28% and 19% in the October-December quarter.

However, the January-March 2023 period recorded a negative growth of 14%.

The last two quarters of 2022-23 -- October-December and January-March -- showed a sharp decline of 19% and -14% as compared to the first quarter growth of 263% in the April-June quarter of 2022.