30% average hike in bid prices for shops

KOTA: The e-auction of wine shops in Rajasthan has witnessed a 30% average hike in the bid prices over the base prices decided by the excise department, said a senior official of the excise department.

However, a wine shop at Kui village in Nohar town of Hanumangarh district was auctioned for ₹510 crore, which was 708 times more than the base price of Rs 72.70 lakh. The highest bid was made by Kiran Kanwar, a resident of Nohar, while Priyanka Kanwar from her family stood second in the bid. A competition between the two women reportedly led to the whopping ₹510 crore bid.

“We have sent the demand notice to the bidder, who has to deposit 2% amount of the bidding within three-day time, otherwise his allotment will be cancelled,” said CR Dewasi, additional commissioner, Excise Policy. “If the bid winner does not deposit the money, then her security deposit of over ₹1 lakh will be forfeited,” he added.

Last year, the wine shop was sold for ₹65 lakh through the lottery system.

For the first time, e-auction for 7,665 wine shops started in Rajasthan on Thursday, which is expected to generate more revenue for the government.

“Out of the 7,665 wine shops in the state, e-auction of 3,572 wine shops have been done in the first phase, which will continue till March 10,” Dewasi said.

Apart from the wine shop in Nohar, there were many other shops in the state that fetched crores for the excise department.

Among them were a wine shop in Churu district, auctioned for ₹11 crore, three shops in Sujangarh region of Churu district, auctioned for ₹10 crore each and a shop for ₹11.60 crore, a shop in Jaipur’s Sanganer, auctioned for ₹8.91 crore and two shops in Hanumangarh district, auctioned for ₹11 crore. “The base price of most of these shops was between ₹1-2 crore only,” Dewasi said. He said, “The average bid price was around 30% higher than the base price and the base price has been calculated by adding 10% in previous year’s reserve price. We are expecting ₹13,000 cr revenue.”