Licensed to serve: Malls will sell liquor

Clothes, books, grocery and a bottle of beer — Delhiites will soon have the option of putting all of them in the same shopping basket.

Clothes, books, grocery and a bottle of beer — Delhiites will soon have the option of putting all of them in the same shopping basket.

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The Delhi Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the Excise Policy for 2009-10, which will allow liquor vends to open shop in shopping malls.

These outlets would be allowed to display and sell both Indian Made Foreign Liquor and Imported Foreign Liquor.

At present, liquor in shopping malls is found only in the NCR towns of Faridabad and Gurgaon, both in Haryana.

Mall owners in the city have welcomed the decision.

Arjun Sharma, director of Select Citywalk, a mall in Saket, south Delhi, said: “Buying liquor is not a taboo or a sin and should find space in a shopper’s bag,” he said, adding that a mall provides a secure environment, especially to women, to buy such items.

The Cabinet also cleared the proposal to hike prices of country-made liquor in the Capital.

A bottle (750 ml) of country made liquor will now cost Rs 60 instead of Rs 50. Delhi’s Finance Minister A.K. Walia said: “The new prices will fetch an additional revenue of Rs 35 crore this fiscal.”