NEW DELHI: The raging controversy around the liquor policy and the Delhi government’s decision to extend the retail licences for just one month has led to six zonal licensees surrendering their permits, leading to closure of 125 more shops in the Capital. The city should have 849 liquor stores under Delhi Excise Policy 2021-22. However, the number has now come down to 339 with several prominent localities like Greater Kailash, Safdarjung Enclave, Hauz Khas, Chittaranjan Park, Sarita Vihar, Punjabi Bagh, Chirag Dilli, Dwarka, Model Town and Rohini without a single retail shop selling liquor. The excise department of the Delhi government allowed six zonal licensees to discontinue their services on Monday and directed them to seal the stocks and the shops in the retail zone. TimesViewFlip-flops in government policies cause chaos and anxiety in business and have an adverse effect on the lives of many. Liquor is an important industry that generates revenue and employment. Liquor stores and bars in restaurants are workstations too. That is why the issue must be settled quickly.Under the excise policy, Delhi had been divided into 32 pre-defined zones, each having a maximum of 27 shops. Even when all the zones were operational, only 639 of the 849 liquor shops could open in the wake of the civic agencies refusing to give permission to shops in non-conforming areas and opposition by the residents in some other localities. Licensees blame financial unviability, ‘policy flip-flop’ for exiting business Under the city’s excise policy, Delhi had been divided into 32 pre-defined zones. Even when all the zones were operational, only 639 of the 849 liquor shops could open. The number came down to 468 when nine zones surrendered their licences in May. The licensees have blamed “financial unviability” and the government’s “flip-flop policy” for their decision to wrap up their businesses. They have claimed that they failed to make a decent profit after paying a huge excise fee – between Rs 230 crore and Rs 340 crore annually – which was paid in equated instalments every month — through a bidding system to get permits. Heavy discounts offered on various brands and varieties to stay afloat amid stiff competition also led to huge financial losses, they said. “We were hoping to do good business and that’s why we participated in the bidding process and agreed on a huge excise fee for each zone. But we could not open all our shops due to issues related to non-conforming areas and amid stiff resistance from the public in certain areas, which badly impacted our business,” said a senior executive of one of the zonal licensees. “We would have earned more if we were allowed to open in the non-conforming areas since these have no liquor shops. Had we shifted those shops to the regularized areas within our zones, we would have been competing with our own shops, causing more losses to us,” said another dealer. Another dealer said that some dealers, who are big players in the industry, offered heavy discounts because the wholesalers they procured the stocks from also gave them huge rebates. “Since we are not as big, we did not get rebates from the wholesalers but were forced to match the discounts given by other dealers to stay in business,” he said. The Delhi government extended the policy twice, once in March and again in May this year, for two months each before deciding to discontinue the zonal system and go back to the old policy regime where the state corporations also ran the retail stores. The excise department late on Monday issued the notification to extend the zonal licences for one more month, till August 31, during the transition from the new excise policy to the old regime and asked them to submit the requisite fee on a pro-rata basis. “This one-month extension is hardly any consolation for us. There is no point investing such huge sums in the form of excise fee and procuring stocks when we know we have to wrap up our business forever by August 31. We will end up making more losses,” said another zonal licensee.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/losses-mounting-125-more-liquor-shops-in-delhi-close/articleshow/93307377.cms
