State Excise department orders Liquor stores to stop giving discounts in Delhi

By Sanjay Maurya

The Excise Department of the Delhi government on February 28 ordered discontinuation of discounts on MRP of liquor in the national capital. This decision was taken after seeing long queues of people outside liquor shops at several places in Delhi as some shops offer discounts on various brands of liquor.

“It has been brought to the notice of the Department that as a result of discounts being offered by the licences through their retail vends, there are many cases reported of long queues of people outside the liquor stores leading to law and order problems and causing inconvenience to the local population of an area. It’s also worth remembering that the COVID crisis is far from finished, and COVID-19 is still a threat. As a result, the large crowds are anticipated to exacerbate the increase in COVID instances in Delhi “According to the Excise Department’s order.

The Delhi government’s Excise Department orders discontinuation of discounts/rebate/concession on MRP of liquor in the national capital. pic.twitter.com/pF6ouqnMSB
— ANI (@ANI) February 28, 2022

“All L7Z licensees (are) required to strictly comply with Rule 54(3) of the Delhi Excise Rules, 2010.” In the event that any such instance of discount, rebate, or concession is brought to the undersigned’s attention, action under the Rules and Act, as well as penal action under the tender document, would be taken against the defaulting licensee,” said Delhi’s Excise Commissioner in a Monday order.

According to previous reports, liquor vendors in Delhi were selling alcohol at heavy discounts of up to 30-40% after the new excise policy went into effect. In November 2021, the Delhi government implemented a new excise policy. Vendors have been able to implement a competitive pricing approach as a result of the new excise policy.

Under the older excise policy, this was restricted. The Delhi government has imposed a maximum price cap for liquor brands under the new regulation. Vendors are permitted to sell alcohol at prices lower than these, but not higher.

The ‘perfect competition,’ as it is called in economics, caused sellers to cut their prices more than their competitors. In many situations, this has resulted in alcohol prices in Delhi falling below the MRP. There are around 580 stores in the capital, with consumers receiving this discount at 150 of them. Discounts of up to 30 percent were offered at numerous alcohol stores.