70% share, 2 firms monopolise IMFL business in Punjab

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, September 7

The allotment of wholesale liquor licences for Indian-Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and Bottled-in-Origin (BIO) brands in Punjab to two companies — Brindco and Anant Wines and Spirits — has come under the Enforcement Directorate scanner.

Both these firms have already been named in the Delhi excise policy case. The agency yesterday searched the residences of Excise and Taxation Commissioner Varun Roojam and Joint Commissioner Naresh Dubey.

The two companies have been appointed as the sole L1 licensees by two of the biggest IMFL manufacturers in Punjab. As a result, over 70 per cent of the IMFL and BIO business has gone to them. This year, 60 lakh cases of IMFL are expected to be sold in the state.

Sources said Amit Arora, alleged to be at the centre of the Delhi excise policy case, has a stake in a bottling plant at Rajpura — Buddy Punjab Bottlers Pvt Ltd. He allegedly used his “contacts” in the Punjab Excise Department to get a structurally different excise policy framed this year. Arora was also said to be behind the grant of L1 licences to the two companies, the sources said.

The AAP government in Punjab brought out its first excise policy in June this year. According to it, each distiller could appoint only one wholesale distributor (L1 licensee). Retailers were barred from getting into the wholesale business (which was allowed under the previous policy). The fee for obtaining an L1 licence was also raised substantially. As a result, both Brindco and Anant Wines got the licence for all major IMFL and some fast-selling beer brands, and the margins allowed to them for retail sale of liquor were increased manifold.

Ever since the two companies have been under scanner of the Central agencies, a number of liquor brands of BIO and IMFL have gone out of stock in the Punjab market.

Denying the AAP government’s role in the matter, party spokesperson Malwinder Kang said, “This is a false propaganda by Opposition parties since their monopoly in liquor trade has been ended. During the previous regimes, liquor manufacturers were also the wholesalers and retailers. Our policy has led to a fall in liquor prices. The excise collections have gone up substantially.”

False propaganda by Opposition parties: AAP

• Brindco and Anant Wines and Spirits have wholesale liquor licence for IMFL brands in Punjab
• Named in Delhi excise policy case, both firms have over 70 per cent share in Punjab’s IMFL business
• An ‘accused’ in Delhi case also played role in formulating Punjab’s excise policy

Post raid, resentment in Bureaucracy

• Following ED raid, Excise and Taxation Commissioner Varun Roojam on Wednesday met other senior officers amid growing resentment over ‘lack of support’ from political bosses