People are selling liquor bottles at double and sometimes triple the price.
Despite the government of Delhi opening up several liquor shops in the national capital, the “black marketing” of liquor is still rampant in the city.
Many say that since they are not being able to lay their hands on that bottle of liquor due to the long serpentine queues outside these shops, they are reaching out to people who are selling liquor bottles in the capital at almost double and sometimes even triple the price.
A young resident of West Delhi, who did not wish to be named, told this correspondent, “When the liquor shops in Delhi opened, I went to three liquor shops in the capital; all shops were forced to be shut after huge chaos was reported outside these shops. But we wanted to lay our hands on some bottles; so we knew somebody in the Subhash Nagar area from whom we would buy some even during the strict lockdown period. He gave us one bottle at almost double the price.”
Another resident of Delhi who managed to get a crate of beer and some four bottles of wine on the very second day, said that he managed to get the liquor by paying a premium of over 50% from the local bootleggers.
“I had seen the long queues and chaos outside these liquor shops on TV and then I decided to call up a few friends who made these bottles available to me. I got these delivered at home and of course this comes at a premium,” the resident told The Sunday Guardian.
Liquor bottles of Johnnie Walker Black Label, Double black, Chivas Regal, Absolut Vodka, among many others, are still being sold in the black market for almost double the price. The prices have further increased even in the black market after the Kejriwal government hiked the price of liquor in Delhi by 70% by charging a “corona cess”.
A bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label which was being sold in the black market during the period of lockdown 1.0 and 2.0 for Rs 5,500, is now being sold at Rs 7,500 to Rs 8,000.
Even Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) brands like Teacher’s, 100 Pipers, Black Dog have seen an exponential rise in their price in the black market.
Many of these people who are now selling these liquor bottles in the black market at a premium price have hoarded these bottles before the lockdown and some have even managed to smuggle these bottles from neighbouring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
The Sunday Guardian reached out to one of such black marketers in Delhi on the pretext of buying liquor from him. He said, “We have one litre of Black Label, the price for which is Rs 8,000. We also have Haryana made liquor bottles which will cost you less. The Delhi ones have become expensive and the rate is the same everywhere in Delhi, you can try.”
It is no secret that the capital has a strong network of black marketers in the city who also have their network in the neighbouring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh from where they source their stock. This has always been a concern for the excise department of Delhi, which fears that Delhi could possibly lose a lot of revenue due to this black marketing where liquor could be sold at a lesser price in the black market as neighbouring states have not increased the price of liquor as Delhi has done.
However, officials from the excise department in Delhi have said that in Delhi, it is very difficult to smuggle out liquor bottles from the liquor shops as they have a very stringent check and balance system in place.
Each bottle is barcoded and the shops would have to send a report after each day to the excise department at the end of the day. CCTVs are also put in place in each shop and are monitored and checked by the excise department.
Officials at the excise department say that many of the liquor bottles which are now being sold have either been hoarded by these illegal liquor sellers before the lockdown, or some even sourced from the duty free shops in the airport with the connivance of the airport staff, while most of which are smuggled into the state from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
“We know about the illegal liquor business in Delhi; it is very difficult to put an end to it because their networks are very strong. They get their quota from Haryana and UP and even some of our liquor shop people are also involved. They smuggle these out when the shops are opened to the illegal market. Whenever we have information, we share it with the police and action is taken,” an excise department official said.
The excise department official also shared how some embassies are also leaking out these foreign made liquors to the Delhi black market. “Embassies have their quota; so even if some countries do not engage in drinking liquor or have brought in some from their own country, some officials from these embassies pick up their entire quota of liquor earmarked by the government and sell them in the black market,” the excise department official said.
The Delhi government has earlier this week allowed 160 liquor shops in the capital to open after which long serpentine queues were witnessed from all these shops and at some places, the crowds had increased to such a level that the police had to resort to lathi-charge.
The Delhi government had decided to open the liquor shops because liquor forms a huge source of revenue for the state. Over the last 45 days that shutters of liquor shops were forced to be put down in view of the coronavirus pandemic, in an estimate, the Delhi government has lost over Rs 225 crores in revenue. In the financial year of 2019-20, the Delhi government had earned over Rs 4,500 crore and was expecting to earn over Rs 6,500 crores in this financial year (2020-21).
Delhi sells over 17 lakh bottles of beer each year and in the financial year 2019-20, Delhi managed to sell 17,21,909 bottles. After opening of liquor shops in Delhi, the Delhi government has earned more than Rs 45 crore in revenue in the last one week and this includes the “corona cess” that the Delhi government has imposed on the sale of liquor in Delhi.