New Delhi, India (CU)_ Since Delhi is reinstating its previous excise policy regime, the city administration has introduced a new mobile app that provides details regarding liquor vending machines in the city. The new app from the Delhi government is called mAbkaridelhi, and it includes information about liquor brands, the liquor shop location, the stock of alcohol brands, and information on dry days. The app may be downloaded from the Google Play Store, and the iOS version of the application will be released shortly.
The mAbkaridelhi app gives details on the opening and closing times of retail liquor outlets in that area. It also enables the user to search for liquor stores alphabetically. The new application will be available in both Hindi and English. With the launch of about 350 government-run booze vending machines on September 1, Delhi returned to its former excise policy. Accordingly, there will no longer be any private vending machines selling liquor in the nation’s capital.
The reinstatement of the former excise regime, which was in effect before November 17, 2021, indicates that discounts given by private vending machines on liquor brands and programs such as buy-one-get-one and buy-one-get-two would no longer be available in Delhi. According to authorities from the customs department, a stockpile of more than 4 million alcohol bottles has been assembled by the department to fulfill the demand, despite estimates of slow sales of about 1.2 million bottles per day in September. However, in August, the demand reached 1.5 million bottles per day.
According to Vinod Giri, Director General of the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies, the count of retail vending machines is expected to touch 500 within the next month. A senior customs department officer said, “Currently, there are nearly 250 private shops that will be replaced by over 300 government vends. So there will be more shops and the number will grow further in the coming days as 500 shops are planned to be opened by four Delhi government undertakings”.
