Excise dept sobers down booze trade

With the crackdown on malpractices by wine shop owners in the city, the business is falling in line, without much difference to the revenue

After nine days of a crackdown implemented by excise commissioner Aravind Jannu, wine shops using illegal practices are slowly being brought into line without a fall in collected revenue.


Drink all you can: According to the Karnataka State Beverage
Corporation,the average sale of alcohol since the crackdown
began is reported to be of 1 lakh 60 cartons

The commissioner said that the crackdown has meant that now between 80 and 90 per cent of city wine shops are acting appropriately and in accordance with the legal requirements, including not selling loose liquor, having the correct licence or allowing customers to drink on the premises after the deadline. This figure was only 50 per cent when the crackdown began on November 15.

"This is about bringing sense to the liquor trade," said Commissioner Aravind Jannu. "We have been receiving some major complaints and this crackdown is about addressing these problems."

Some wine shops that allowed people to drink on their premises are feeling the pinch with reports of up to 50 per cent loss in revenue over the past nine days. One cashier told this reporter, "These are very bad conditions for trade since the crackdown began."

The Excise Commission has still managed to pull in Rs 401.86 crore in the month of November so far, indicating that customers are taking their business to more legitimate establishments. The case brought against the excise department claimed that authorities were turning a blind eye to the illegal money being made by wine shop owners prior to the crackdown.

Hanumantegouda, owner of SLNS Wines in Banashankari said that he had been following the rules for 15 years and so the new crackdown did not affect his trade.

"I have noticed that we are getting more business from people who would normally buy from the wine shops operating illegally," he said. "We operate a legal business so we have not been affected."

The Karnataka State Beverage Corporation is also reporting steady sales, with a daily average of 1 lakh 60 cartons of alcohol being sold since the crackdown began, peaking at 2 lakh on November 16, which are consistent with normal alcohol sales.

The Minister for Excise M P Renukacharya recently said the government had set a target to collect Rs 7,500 crore from excise revenue for the current financial year. The figure from April currently stands at 4,800 crore.
"The numbers have not fallen and we expect them to stay high," said Aravind Jannu. "Revenue is not going to come down either."

Aravind Jannu will present his findings to the courts today including the number of errant wine bars, and he will continue to apply pressure to them for not following procedure by sending officials to monitor their operations.

Rs 7,500 cr the amount that the government would collect from excise revenue this financial year