11 Months, 1 Crore+ Liquor Bottles Consumed. Are We Proud, Chandigarh?

Chandigarh and places around may rejoice the recent move of Chandigarh administration saving liquor vends across the UT, except on Madhya Marg, there is a dark aspect to it which we all happily seem to ignore.

The increasing consumption of liquor in the UT. According to the Excise Department’s details city residents drank 1,00,34,666 bottles of liquor in 11 months from April 2016 to February 2017. Of this, 93 lakh bottles were of Indian Made Foreign liquor (IMFL) while consumption of country-made liquor bottles was just 7,01,333.

Chandigarh’s Liquor Consumption Preference:  

• Whisky consumption topped the charts with 30,000 liquor bottles daily:

Approximately 44 lakh bottles of whisky admix value (Mc Dowells, Imperial Blue, Officer’s Choice Blue) were consumed in this period and the second in line was whisky admix deluxe (Royal Stag, Royal Challenge) with 28 lakh bottles.

• Scotch premium with consumption of just 73,000 bottles in a year.

• Nearly 30,000 bottles of wine were consumed in one year in Chandigarh:

But, contractors feel that people are now shifting to white drinks like vodka whose consumption will see a rise in the near future. The liquor trade in Chandigarh is emerging stronger each year.

The Money Factor:

• The IMFL industry is the major source of revenue for the administration giving it the money to the tune of Rs 225 crore to the UT. 

• The overall business of liquor is of Rs 238 crore and 99 vends are operating in the city.

YES, MONEY IS MOST IMPORTANT

Chandigarh- The Booze Lovers Heaven:

The ex-distillery price (EDP) in Chandigarh is the least as compared to Punjab and Haryana.

To add to this, March becomes the favourite month for booze lovers as liquor vend owners reduce the rates by almost 40 per cent in order to lift their fixed quotas. 

Age Factor:

On papers, people above the age of 25 years are allowed to consume liquor but sellers hardly take note of it. “Our potential customer base is between 19 and 27 years of age. When it comes to selling liquor, nobody actually asks the buyer his age,” says the contractor. Satyapal says, “In fact, there is no such barometer with which shopkeepers can determine the age when somebody comes to buy liquor.”

WHO CARES?

Aftermath of Supreme Court Order on Liquor Ban on State and National Highways

With the nomenclature of all VI, V2, V3 roads changed to district roads, just 22 out of 99 vends located on Madhya Marg and National Highway 21 that would face closure.

Related: Liquor Shops Will Stay On V1, V2 And V3 Roads In Chandigarh, But Not On Madhya Marg

Intricacies of Proposed Changes in Excise Policy:

The UT Administration is also in the process to announce the excise policy which aims to generate more revenue in 2017-18 from the liquor trade.

• Lottery System:

The quota system would be abolished by moving to a minimum guarantee model for the sale of cases. As per this method, the administration would charge Rs 75,000 per application by way of lottery method.

EXPECTED PROFIT: + Rs 75 crore as 100 applications per vend are expected.

• Minimum Sale Price:

The minimum sale price would be increased by Rs 100 per bottle for scotch category and Rs 50 per bottle for other categories and Rs 10 for beer.

EXPECTED PROFIT: + Rs 60 crore to the existing revenue of Rs 230 crore from the liquor trade.

• Shop licence fee diving shops in three categories:

To the Green City, City Beautiful, ARE WE HAPPY WITH CHANDIGARH GETTING THE TITLE OF ‘BOOZERS CITY’?

Atleast I’m not!

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