Old Liquor Policy Makes A Comeback In Delhi: What Changes From August 1

Delhi will go back to selling liquors with no discounts and one-plus-offers as old liquor policy is set to make a comeback from August 1 (Monday).

New Delhi: The old liquor policy is making a comeback in Delhi from August 1 as the Arvind Kejriwal-led government announced that it has decided to return to the past regime of the retail liquor sale policy. The old liquor sale policy, which is set to return from Monday, will stay in place for six months.

In the old liquor sale policy, both private and government-run liquor shops were available in Delhi which offered no discounts. The four government-run agencies which sold liquor in the city as per the old policy included Delhi Consumer’s Cooperative Wholesale Store (DCCWS), Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC), Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation (DSCSC), and Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC).

Old liquor policy to be back in Delhi from August 1 – What changes

• Under the old liquor policy, over 864 liquor shops were available in Delhi including 389 run by private players and 475 by the government agencies.
• As per the old liquor policy in Delhi, all liquor shops in the city used to be shut for 21 days while only three dry days were observed in the new policy.
• There were no offers including discounts or one-plus-one offer available on liquors.
• No minimum area was required to open liquor shops as per the old policy.

Why Delhi govt brought back old liquor policy

The AAP-led Delhi government decided to go back to the old regime of liquor sale after LG recommended investigation by Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) into the new excise policy which came into force in November 2021.

A day after the Delhi government decided to return to the old regime of retail liquor sale policy for six months, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday accused the BJP of threatening shopkeepers and officers with ED and CBI cases.

“In Delhi, our government brought a new excise policy last year. Before excise policy 2021-22, most of the liquor shops in Delhi were government-run and were mired in corruption,” Manish Sisodia said.

“We brought a new liquor policy to stop corruption. Before that the government used to get around Rs 6,000 crore as revenue from 850 liquor shops. But, after the new policy, our government would have got more than Rs 9,000 crore with the same number of shops,” Sisodia said.