Pre-Diwali liquor sales go up 44% in Delhi this year

Jump in sales due to better availability of brands, uptick in gifting of liquor, and clearing of backlog of orders generated in September

Nearly 39 million bottles of alcohol worth ₹447 crore were sold in the Capital in the fortnight before Diwali this year – a 44% jump from the 26.9 million bottles sold in the corresponding festive period in 2023, according to data from the Delhi government’s excise department.

Per day, this amounted to 2 to 3.5 million bottles of liquor in the fortnight before Diwali this year and at least 1.4 million bottles of liquor during the same period last year, according to an excise department report. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

Diwali was celebrated on October 31 this year and November 12 last year.

Per day, this amounted to 2 to 3.5 million bottles of liquor in the fortnight before Diwali this year and at least 1.4 million bottles of liquor during the same period last year, according to an excise department report.

To be sure, the excise department did not share the figures giving worth of the liquor sold in the period last year as officials said the data is “not readily available”.

Industry insiders said that while a rise in sales during Diwali was expected, it could also be because glitches in the Delhi government’s excise portal led to a backlog of orders in September, which only cleared later in October.

“In October the excise department changed its ordering software as the previous one faced frequent glitches. This resulted in companies’ warehouses drying up. Even the stock in outlets dropped severely. But since matters improved in the last 10 days, pipelines are returning to normal. We are told that the excise department is working to iron out the remaining glitches and the software will soon return to full functionality, which is what the industry wishes for in the festive season,” said Vinod Giri, director general of the Brewers Association of India.

In September, liquor stores, bars and restaurants in Delhi faced problems while ordering liquor stock through the excise department’s portal because the department was transitioning from the old liquor supply chain management software (excise supply chain information management system portal developed by a private IT firm for department and being operated since 2013) to a new NIC developed e-Abkari portal which excise officials said offers better services and comes with latest technical updates. It led to a backlog of orders which started getting cleared since October 3 when the excise department transitioned to the NIC-based software.

A Delhi-based restaurant-bar owner associated with the National Restaurant Association of India, who did not want to be named, said many restaurants and bars were unable to place orders throughout September and the situation improved only in October.

A second excise department official agreed that the pre-Diwali surge in liquor sales was due to the backlog of demands generated due to the software issues faced by buyers in preceding weeks.

Delhi’s retail liquor stores are run by four Delhi government corporations — Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC), Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC), Delhi Consumer’s Cooperative Wholesale Store (DCCWS), and the Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (DSCSC).

In March this year, the Delhi government extended the existing excise policy 2020-21, which was set to expire on March 31, 2024, till the end of the financial year 2024-25 to ensure the continuity of supply of liquor in the Capital.