Liquor business sees new entrants

CHANDIGARH: All dominant players in the Rs 6200crore liquor business in Punjab have lost substantial business to new entrants thus signalling the end of their monopoly in the liquor trade

Updated At : 12:54 PM Mar 23, 2019 IST

Dominant players in the Rs 6,200-crore liquor business in Punjab have lost substantial business to new entrants.

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 22

All dominant players in the Rs 6,200-crore liquor business in Punjab have lost substantial business to new entrants, thus signalling the end of their monopoly in the liquor trade.

The auction of liquor vends held earlier this week may not be good news for these players, including a sitting minister’s family and a ruling party MLA. But by reducing their presence in the trade, the state Excise and Taxation Department is hoping that the prices of liquor in the state will show some drop. The excise duty on country liquor, Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) and beer have been increased marginally by the department in the Excise Policy announced earlier this month. But with the monopoly being broken, the prices of all categories of liquor are expected to show a downward revision.

Sources in the trade as well as in Excise and Taxation Department have told The Tribune that the three major players in liquor business — Jasdeep Chaddha, Deep Malhotra and Arvind Singla-led groups — have succeeded in getting just 50 per cent of the zones (as compared to the zones they got in 2018-19), during the auctions of different vends held on March 20. Instead, new contractors from Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi have managed to get substantial business in the auction. Sources say a liquor trading company from Delhi — Turtle Quick Limited — has got several vends in Ludhiana, Mohali, Kharar and Jalandhar.

In all, auction has been successful in 700 zones and vends in 40 zones (earmarked by the Excise Department) did not get bidders. These vends — in Abohar, Ferozepur City, Ferozepur Cantonment, Mansa and Patti — would be re-auctioned on March 25 and 29, said Gurtej Singh, Additional Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Punjab. “The reason for these vends not getting auctioned is that an old player operating here has shifted base. But these will be successfully auctioned soon,” he said.

Since those successful in the auction are supposed to deposit the entire fixed licence fee and the additional fixed licence fee by March 31. This will make the state government’s coffers richer by Rs 650 crore.