Delhi lowers drinking age to 21, govt to exit business

Delhi lowers drinking age to 21, govt to exit business

AlokKNMishra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:23.03.2021 

In a major reform, the Delhi government has reduced the drinking age in the city from 25 to 21, removing an anomaly in its excise policy. Delhi was among a few states and Union territories that had a higher age bar even as the rest of the country had moved on. In what can prove to be a major game-changer, the government has also announced that it will exit the liquor business.

These two are among a host of decisions, including checking the liquor mafia, ensuring quality control, transforming the liquor buying experience of customers and, finally, increasing the excise revenue by 20% in the first year, announced by the AAP government as part of its new excise policy on Monday.

In 2019-20, the state government earned Rs 6,574 crore from liquor, which is about 9.5% of the total estimated revenue, as mentioned in the budget, of Rs 69,000 crore.

The policy was approved by the Arvind Kejriwal government on Monday and will come into effect after it is notified in a couple of days.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who announced the new policy, said the government will not run liquor shops anymore (currently it runs around 60% of these outlets) because it is not the job of the government to sell liquor. No new liquor shops will be opened, Sisodia said, pointing out that since 2016, no new outlet has been opened in the city.

"The excise reforms announced today will be a major blow to the liquor mafia in Delhi. The liquor mafia runs around 2,000 illegal shops which results in tax evasion of Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 2,000 crore," said Sisodia.

Full report on www.toi.in

Delhi was among a few states and Union territories that had a higher age bar even as the rest of the country had moved on