206 liquor vends auctioned, ₹662cr collected

The Haryana government on Friday auctioned 206 of the 284 liquor vends in Gurugram district through e-tenders and earned ₹662 crore from the auction, an increase

The Haryana government on Friday auctioned 206 of the 284 liquor vends in Gurugram district through e-tenders and earned ₹662 crore from the auction, an increase of 14.1% on the reserve price, said officials of the excise department.

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The bids were finalised in the presence of Gurugram deputy commissioner, additional deputy commissioner, four deputy excise and taxation commissioners (DETC), and officials of the sales tax and excise departments.

In the east zone, the highest bid of ₹17.53 crore was for the vend at Mehrauli border, while the second-highest bid, of ₹17.31 crore, was for the one at Sector 31. The third highest bid was of ₹16.92 crore, for one on the Golf Course Road.

In the west zone, the highest bid was of ₹20.25 crore, for a vend near the Ambience Mall, while the second-highest was of ₹18.99 crore for a vend at Shankar Chowk and the third-highest was for a vend in DLF Phase-2, which went for ₹18.60 crore.

The state was divided into three groups for the process of e-tendering this year and Gurugram city falls in Group A.

The excise areas are divided into east and west Gurugram, with 69 and 73 zones, respectively, with two liquor vends allowed in each zone. Earlier, there were six liquor vends in each zone. In urban zones, unlike before, no sub-vends are allowed as per the new excise policy announced last month.

Officials said that last year, the department had auctioned 210 liquor vends and earned ₹743 crore, which was an increase of 6.27% on the reserve price.

The officials said that the difference between the reserve price and the bidding amount is higher this year. The revenue mostly increases when there are new players and this year, there are many new players due to the new excise policy. There is no cartelisation by the bidders, said officials.

Also, there was no bidding in 39 zones for which the e-tendering process will be started again by the end of this month.

HC Dahiya, deputy commissioner of excise and taxation, Gurugram (west), said they received bids for 49 of the 73 zones. The auction for the remaining 24 zones will be announced soon. “The prices of foreign liquor and beer will dip starting April 1 in the district under the new excise policy, and the compulsory quota of country liquor that a vend has to stock has been reduced from 40% to 20%. There will be no compulsory quota (for country liquor) in the next excise policy,” he said, adding that this time, there were fewer bidders in a zone, due to which the reserve price was reduced.

He also said that the number of zones was increased this time. A revenue of ₹340 crore was generated in the west zone, against the reserve price of ₹306 crore, said Dahiya.

“In east, we received bids for 54 zones of the 69 zones. The reserve price was ₹274.8 crore, whereas the revenue was ₹322.6 crore. The revenue has increased by 17.4% as the new excise policy which has encouraged more traders to bid. The tendering process was done electronically. The e-tendering process started on March 12 and was open to bidders till 4pm of March 13,” Aruna Singh, DETC (East), said.

The state excise department earned ₹6,600 crore in revenue in 2018 -19 and has set a target of ₹7,500 crore for 2020-21. Currently, Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) is sold on the basis of the minimum retail price decided by the trader or the retailer.