Only two of 12 liquor vends find takers in 7th round of e-auction, Chandigarh Excise Department nets Rs 7.76 cr

The UT Excise and Taxation Department has again received a poor response to its e-auction, as only two out of 12 liquor vends were sold today. Remaining 10 liquor vends will soon be put up for auction again.

The department managed to allot one liquor vend in Sector 22 and another in Mauli Jagran Colony after the seventh round of e-auction and earned a revenue of Rs 7.76 crore. The department could sell only one liquor during the auction held on May 9 and earn a revenue of Rs 4.50 crore against the reserve price of Rs 4.38 crore.

Out of 97 liquor vends, 87 have been auctioned so far, and the department officials estimated that this year, they would earn more than Rs 600 crore from the auction of liquor vends, which would be about 50 per cent more than last year.

The department has earned a record profit from the auction of liquor vends this time. So far, the department has earned nearly Rs 534 crore from the auction of 87 liquor vends, while last year it had got only Rs 413 crore. Ten other vends are yet to be auctioned.

In the fifth round of auction held on May 14, the department was able to allot only six liquor vends out of 17 units and earned a revenue of Rs 39.60 crore against the reserve price of Rs 24.32 crore.

In the fourth round on May 8, 11 liquor vends out of the 21 units were auctioned for Rs 60.76 crore against the reserve price of Rs 47.97 crore. The department was able to auction only seven vends out of 28 during the third round of the auction on April 29.

On April 21, the department had put up 48 liquor vends, the licences of which were cancelled over the non-payment of bank guarantee, for auction. It managed to find bidders for only 20 vends and earned Rs 131 crore against the reserve price of Rs 109 crore.

On March 21, the department had allotted 96 liquor vends out of a total of 97 through an e-auction and generated Rs 606 crore. However, the department had cancelled the licences of 48 vends. It earned Rs 23 crore by forfeiting the earnest money and security deposits of these defaulters.