By Avinash Prabhakar
New Delhi, Jul 7 (IANS): The residents of Delhi may face shortage of liquor of their choice as the national capital is witnessing a scarcity across various categories in many outlets.
Even some premium category whiskeys are not available in below one litre quantity at various outlets. Asked about the reason behind the shortage, the outlet keepers had a common reply, "supply chain problem".
Among many other reasons, one important factor causing shortage is the new liquor policy which has led to a sharp decline in the number of wine shops operating in Delhi currently.
Talking to IANS, Vinod Giri, Director General of the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC), said that only 464 shops are in operation in the national capital currently, whereas a city like Delhi must have around 850 outlets to serve the residents.
"Around 460 to 464 outlets are currently in operation, whereas it should be around 850 shops. Even some posh areas like Connaught Place, Saket and Green Park hardly have any shop there," Giri told IANS, adding that this would naturally lead to the crisis.
Underlining some flaws in the policy, he said that around 11 to 12 licensees of the total 32 zones in the national capital have surrendered their retail licence, as a result of which these zones are without any liquor shops now.
Talking about liquor shortage, Giri said the paucity of space at the outlets is another reason as the liquor business runs on one or two-day stocks only. Due to the space crunch, the outlets cannot stock liquor which eventually leads to shortage.
Giri added that the capital city doesn't have its own breweries, while some breweries in the neighbouring states too have stopped supplying to Delhi.
"Delhi gets its supplies from Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and other states. But Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have stopped the supply in view of catering to their own domestic needs first," he said.
"The beer categories are experiencing a shortage because several brands could not produce additional stock in advance, in February and March. Additionally, the summer approached quite early this year, and major part of the stock got consumed earlier," Giri told IANS, adding that around 40 per cent of India's annual beer sales is recorded in the April-June period.