Delhi govt says cheers to Rs 9,000 crore from liquor bids

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has mopped up some substantial revenue by auctioning liquor retail licences at its newly demarcated 32 excise zones with the top few zones raking in around 50% and more in licence fees compared with the reserve fee.
Overall, the Delhi government earned Rs 8,911 crore as licence fees, 27% higher than the Rs 7,039 crore reserve fees.While it earned more on average with some zones doing exceptionally well, some zones didn’t elicit a similar response.
Zone 32 (Airport zone)did stupendously well, getting bids of Rs 236 crore for 10 liquor vends, against the annual reserve fee of Rs 105 crore.
Liquor zone 17 earned least in bids
According to sources in the Delhi government, a Puducherry-based firm has received the licence for the most sought-after Airport zone.
At the other end of the spectrum is Zone 17, which has a total of 27 liquor vends spread across nine municipal zones. For a reserve fee of Rs 226 crore, the zone witnessed bids of only up to around Rs 227 crore. The lowest earning zone comprises areas such as Kishanganj, parts of Rohini, Adarsh Nagar, Ghuman Hera, Bijwasan, Kondli etc.
Second on the list of toppers is Zone 28 comprising 27 liquor vends in nine municipal wards, including Dwarka-A, Gautam Puri, Pratap Nagar, Vijay Vihar, Bhajan Pura, Deoli etc. The reserve license fee for this zone was Rs 223 crore and the money it raked in is Rs 357 crore, the highest in absolute terms.
Third on the list is Zone 11, which too has 27 liquor vends in nine municipal wards, including Punjabi Bagh, Sainik Enclave, Paharganj, Najafgarh, Bapraula, Ghonda etc. The reserve fee for this zone was Rs 222 crore but it raked in close to Rs 351 crore.
Zone 31, which includes areas falling under the jurisdiction of New Delhi Municipal Council and Delhi Cantonment, has 29 liquor vends with a reserve licence fee of Rs 217 crore and the highest bid received for this zone was Rs 315 crore.
Among the zones that didn’t perform as well as others are Zone 13 and Zone 27, which earned a premium of Rs 4 crore above a reserve fee of Rs 226 crore and Rs 12 crore above a reserve fee of Rs 223 crore, respectively. The first zone has areas like Naraina, Yamuna Vihar, Malviya Nagar, Sangam Vihar etc. and Zone 27 comprises areas like Karawal Nagar, Sadatpur, Nangloi, Tilak Nagar, Karampura etc.
As part of the Delhi government’s new excise policy, liquor retails licences in 32 excise zones were auctioned from August 5 onwards and initial bidding of 20 zones brought in Rs 5,300 crore in revenue. The remaining 12 of the 32 zones were auctioned later and the total licence fee generated was Rs 8,911 crore.
The revenue generated includes a one-time payment by the winning bidder as well as an annual licence fee. From next year, the city government hopes to rake in around Rs 3,500 crore from annual licence fees.
Apart from the licence fee, the government will also earn from excise duty on liquor sales, import fees and other levies, which come to around Rs 650 crore. Besides, the government expects to earn around Rs 1,000 crore from other sources such as licensing of new brands etc.