Tipplers cheer as liquor shops offer discounts ahead of March closure

Bhopal: Tipplers can be seen asking each other where they could get their brand cheaper than the standard rate. Ever since the liquor syndicate broke following auction of liquor shops in the year 2022, there has been a tendency to sell liquor cheaper than their competitors to attract more buyers and with the financial year coming to a close, it is likely to go up further. Liquor contractors say that this tendency is far more in smaller places, where there are only a few shops and those in retail liquor business for a long time are selling liquor cheaper to strike the new persons, who have forayed into retail liquor business, out of business. "At bigger places like Bhopal or Indore, the menace is not so much because concession is offered to only a select band of customers and on high-end brands and since there are several shops, the effect of sale on cheaper rates than stipulated by the excise department as minimum selling price (MSP) thins out but at a place, where there are only 3-4 shops and 2 of them start selling liquor at far less than the MSP decided by the excise department, the other two would have it. And, it's happening at several places and we have an apprehension that it's being done to see the new players in retail liquor business out and bringing the old syndicate back", said a liquor contractor on the condition of anonymity, when asked what changes would they like in the new excise policy, which would come into effect from April 1, 2023. Referring to a nearby district, he said that a shop on the highway is selling liquor brands to all the customers below MSP.and In order to avoid any records, the shop vendors refuse to accept money online or any other payment gateways. He said that a whisky brand, whose MSP is Rs 1954, is being sold by the shop at Rs 1600. A shop inside the town has also adopted the same strategy to down the sale of other two vendors, who are new in the field. When asked whether the excise staff doesn't take any action against them on selling the liquor below MSP, he said “It has been clearly stated in the excise rules that liquor can’t be sold below MSP. However, both the shops I am referring to are blatantly selling liquor below MSP. Despite several complaints, the excise officer did not take any steps to stop it,” said the liquor contractor on the condition of anonymity. A liquor retailer in Bhopal also admitted to sale of liquor brands in the city at prices lower than the MSP but he said that iot's limited to high-end brands and not all the brands and mostly, the concession is given when the customer agrees to take at least 3 bottles and as the number of bottles increase, more concession is given. He, however, admitted that in the next month, you can have an open sale of liquor at 50 percent rate (One bottle free on purchase on one). The phenomenon was witnessed last year also. An excise official, when contacted for comments, said "There is both MRP (maximum retail price (MRP) and MSP (minimum selling price) written on the liquor bottle but if the liquor is being sold at lesser price than MSP, there won't be any complaint. "We seldom get complaints regarding sale of liquor on more than MRP, let alone less than MSP and therefore there is no action", he said. Rajeev Gupta, who has been in the retail liquor business for quite some time, however, denied that contractors are doing it to oust new players from the retail liquor business. "No, it's not true. They are selling liquor at rates below MSP because they have to exhaust the stock. You know every liquor contractor has to lift a particular stock every month (What we call guaranteed stock) and if he doesn't lift as much of stock, a penalty is imposed on him. He is just trying to sell off the stock before the financial year ends and the remaining stock is confiscated by the excise department," he said.