Brindco and Anant Wines and Spirits have been awarded wholesale liquor licenses for Indian-Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and Bottled-in-Origin (BIO) brands in Punjab by the Enforcement Directorate.
The Delhi excise policy case has already named both of these firms. Naresh Dubey and Varun Roojam, the commissioner and joint commissioner respectively, were searched yesterday by the agency.
Two of the biggest IMFL manufacturers in Punjab have appointed the two companies as sole L1 licensees. This has resulted in over 70 percent of IMFL and BIO business going to them. There are expected to be 60 lakh cases of IMFL sold in the state this year.
According to sources, Amit Arora owns Buddy Punjab Bottlers Pvt Ltd, a bottling plant at Rajpura that is involved in the Delhi excise policy case. A structurally different excise policy was framed this year as a result of his “contacts” in the Punjab Excise Department. According to sources, Arora also approved the L1 licences for the two companies.
An excise policy was introduced in June by the AAP government in Punjab. Each distiller was only allowed to have one wholesale distributor (L1 licensee). In contrast to the previous policy, retailers were prohibited from entering the wholesale market. L1 licence fees were also substantially raised. Because of this, Brindco and Anant Wines were granted licences for all major IMFL and fast-selling beer brands, and their margins for retail sales of liquor were greatly increased.
Several liquor brands of BIO and IMFL have gone out of stock in the Punjab market since the two companies have been under scrutiny of the Central agencies.
Malwinder Kang, a party spokesperson, denied the AAP government’s role in the matter. “The opposition parties are spreading false propaganda since their monopoly in liquor trading has ended,” she said. Manufacturers of liquor were also distributors and retailers during previous regimes. Liquor prices have fallen as a result of our policy. There has been a substantial increase in excise collections.”