The ongoing auction season for liquor vends in Gurgaon has spelled a boom for the excise department in Haryana, which has already collected a total of Rs 1,756 crore in licence fees from the NCR city this year, an increase of 9.4% from 2023.
This year, 162 zones, of which 83 are in the West and 79 in the East, are up for auction. So far, 79 zones in the West and 63 in the East have been auctioned, officials said.
The highest bid has been by a vend in Bristol Chowk at Rs 48.28 crore while another in Mehrauli border came second, with Rs 45.53 crore.
Last year, the top bid in the city was for Rs 43 crore in the Mehrauli border zone. In the West region, a vend in the Udyog Vihar border tops the list with a price of Rs 38.91 crore followed by DLF Phase 3 at Rs 31.26 crore.
The total licence fee accrued by the department was Rs 1,605 crore last year. Amit Bhatia, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner (DETC) East, said 16 zones are yet to be auctioned. “We will get another Rs 150 crore from these vends,” he added.
In the city, each zone will have two vends. The date of the next auction will be decided later, an official said.
Besides, an increase of 11.26% was seen from reserve prices in the East and 15.17% in the West. The retail vendors which clinched the highest bid are G-Town Wines, Lakeforest Wines Pvt Ltd, and Singla Liquor Pvt Ltd. Singla has licences in over 20 zones while G-Town can open vends in 16 zones.
The liquor vend in Bristol Chowk went for Rs 48.28 crore against a base price of Rs 36.75 crore while that in Udyog Vihar border, the highest bid in the West, went for Rs 38.91 crore against a reserve price of Rs 27.65 crore, officials said.
