Punjab: No takers in auction of 5 liquor groups; Rs 150 crore revenue stuck

Tribune News Service

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, April 15

The Punjab Excise Department has failed to auction five groups (group is a single licensing unit) in three districts of the state. The reason, say sources in the liquor trade, for these groups not finding takers is the losses suffered by the previous contractors who had taken these groups in 2023-24. The sale in these areas is quite low, and contractors have not been able recover their investments.

Several first-timers this time

This time, several first-timers have entered the business and several small contractors, who had been marginalised by the big ones through political patronage during the previous regimes, have made a re-entry in the liquor trade. senior excise dept official

This means that the government cannot realise the Rs 150 crore it had pegged on the auction of vends in Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Faridkot (Rs 30 crore for each group). The five groups in these districts have gone under the hammer four times, but did not find any takers. These vends were to become operational from April 1.

Official sources in the Excise Department have told The Tribune that they now propose to auction these groups (one each in Pathankot and Fatehgarh Churian, Gurdasapur, and three in Faridkot) again on Tuesday. The government has already auctioned off 231 groups across the state and realised Rs 1,000 crore through the auction. As much as 11 per cent of the targeted annual revenue from excise has been collected after the auction.

The Aam Aadmi Party in its excise policy for 2024-25 has set a target of earning Rs 10,350 crore as revenue from excise duty on sale of liquor. This has been marginally increased, over 6 per cent, from last year’s revenue target of Rs 9,500 crore. This year, there are about 6,400 liquor vends in the state divided into 236 groups.

Officials in the Excise Department said there was no big group that had bagged the contract for running the liquor retail business as vends had been allotted through a draw of lots. “This time, several first timers have entered the business and several small contractors, who had been marginalised by the big contractors by getting political patronage during the previous regimes, have made a re-entry in the liquor trade,” said a senior officer.

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