16 liquor vends in Chandigarh sold for ₹77.03 cr in second e-auction

Against a reserve price of ₹62.59 crore, the Chandigarh excise and taxation department collected ₹77.03 crore in the shape of licence fees through e-auction for liquor vends

In its second e-auction of liquor vends on Tuesday, the UT excise and taxation department found bidders for 16 of the 24 vends put up for sale.

A total of 16 liquor vends in Chandigarh were sold for ₹77.03 cr in the second e-auction held on Tuesday. (HT File Photo)

Against a reserve price of ₹62.59 crore, the department collected ₹77.03 crore in the shape of licence fees.

On March 22, 72 of the total 96 vends in the city were auctioned, leaving 24 unsold. Now, with the auction of 16 more vends, eight are left and are expected to be allotted through the third round of bidding in April, when the 2022-23 excise policy will come into force.

From the sale of 88 liquor vends, having a reserve price of ₹407.59 crore, the department has earned ₹497.91 crore in the shape of licence fees, registering an increase of 22.15% from the reserve price, a department spokesperson said. Besides ₹5.91 crore in form of non-refundable participation fee was also collected.

While in the auction on March 22, the highest bid, for a liquor vend in Dhanas, was ₹12.78 crore; on Tuesday, the top seller was a vend in Sector 37-D market that went for ₹6.87 crore against a reserve price of ₹5.30 crore.