Covid-19 or not, 92% liquor shops to auto-renew licences

PRAYAGRAJ: Even with the pandemic raging, 92% of the state’s liquor vends recorded 10% sales more than their allotted sales quotas.

What that translates into is that only 8% of the liquor shops in the state will be awarded sale contracts through the lottery the process for awarding contracts – while 92% of operators have ensured the renewal of their contracts, riding their sales figures, excise department officials said.

According to the present norms of the excise department, every liquor outlet in the state gets the facility of auto-renewal of their licence if the outlet surpasses the sale of their allotted quota of liquor by over 10%.

However, even the 8% outlets ‘lagging’, have over 45 days left in the current financial year to achieve the target and be eligible for auto-renewal, officials pointed out.

Joginder Singh, joint director, statistics, Excise Headquarters, Prayagraj, said, “Licences of around 92% shops are set to be renewed due to favourable excise policy of the state government. As many as 95% to 97% liquor shops in most districts are falling under the category eligible for auto-renewal of licences,” he said.

The sales figures notched up by these outlets are even more interesting considering that these shops were completely shut for over two months during lockdown at the start of the present financial year. Most of these outlets’ owners were worried about their sales throughout the year. While many of them sought additional time from the department to meet their yearly sale targets, others demanded their licence fee back. However, when the liquor shops opened, liquor consumers made up all the loss that these outlets incurred during the lockdown period. In Prayagraj, 95% liquor shops are looking at auto-renewal of licences. Excise department officials said that the highest sales were in May, when the lockdown was lifted. Even those who preferred beer, turned to hard liquor, contributing to the rise in sales.