Withdrawal of excise policy: Too early to gauge impact, say restaurateurs

Delhi-based restaurateurs on Saturday said it was too early to gauge the impact on the hospitality industry after the city government's announcement to withdraw its new excise policy 2021-22.

The 468 private liquor shops operating in the city will be shut from August 1 as the term of their licences and that of the new excise policy expire on July 31.

With new policy gone, the excise licences issued to hotels, clubs and restaurants having bars, and wholesale operations will also become redundant apart from private run liquor stores in the city.

It means, there will be virtually no liquor supply from the wholesalers to the entire hospitality sector and retail vends in the city after July 31, till some alternate arrangements are made by the government, liquor trade experts claimed.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia earlier on the day said that Delhi government has withdrawn the new excise policy and directed for selling liquor from government run stores only.

Kabir Suri, president of the National Restaurant Association of India said, "We have no clarity on the matter and we have no details on the matter as yet. Once we receive it we will study the same and we can speak. No official notification has been received."

Restaurant owners said that they are waiting for an official notification from the government on the matter.

Joy Singh, co-owner, Raasta, said, "We are waiting for an official notification on the matter."

Some said that there is an air of uncertainty on the issue and hoped that it would end soon.

Excise Policy 2021-22 extended twice before for two months each after April, will come to an end on July 31 as Delhi government has decided to go back to old excise regime and run liquor stores for coming six months.

The major shift, following a CBI probe recommended by Lt Governor into alleged violations of rules and procedural lapses in implementation of Excise Policy 2021-22, is also feared to disrupt entire supply chain of liquor in the city.