Mumbaikars will gradually find it difficult to get their daily tipple with the state government deciding to change its policy on shifting wine shops and country liquor bars. The new rules will make a one kilometre minimum aerial distance mandatory between two wine shops or country liquor bars for shifting.

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This means urban areas like Mumbai, which already have a high concentration of these liquor vends—the city has around 500 of about 1,600 functional wine shops in the state--will see more of them shifting out to other districts in an already saturated market with falling sales and high license fees.

Industry sources said these new rules will rationalise the market and ensure equitable distribution of wine shops across Maharashtra, by making shifting difficult within already over-crowded markets like Mumbai. However, officials said this would encourage a monopoly by existing players.

Mumbai city and the suburbs have already seen around 125 wine shops migrate to other districts in the last five years. The state government has stopped issuing new wine shop or country liquor shop licenses since 1973, which means only the existing wine shop licenses holders can transfer or shift their licenses.

State excise minister Chandrashekhar Bavankule said that the new policy was likely to be announced early next week. "There are areas where a number of shops are concentrated. This leads to complaints on-street drinking, brawls and law and order issues," said an official from the state excise department.

Dilip Gianani, president, Maharashtra Wine Merchants Association, welcomed the move and said it would "rationalise the sale of liquor and distribution of wine shops across Maharashtra."

Gianani added that with 475 of the 1,555 functional wine shop vends in the state, Mumbai city and the suburbs were already a saturated market. Comparatively, districts like Pune, Thane and Raigad, which were larger and had a growing population, had less wine shops. For instance, Pune had around 190 wine shops, most of which were in Pune city.

"This will encourage them to shift to areas where shops are less and business is more," explained Gianani, adding that of the over 600 wine shop licenses in Mumbai city and the suburbs around five years ago, just 475 remained. While around 15% of the total licenses can be moved out of districts per year, an average of 10% in Mumbai city and 5 to 7% in the suburbs were seeking to migrate elsewhere.

A senior state excise official however pointed out that it would lead to a monopoly by existing players in urban areas due to the entry of new entities being prevented. "This will also have a revenue implication as we charge around eight times the license fee for shifting," the official said, questioning why the government was taking these decisions instead of allowing the law of the markets to operate. He added that there would be instances of landlords squeezing their wine shop owner tenants for higher rents since their space to shift elsewhere in Mumbai had reduced.

Now, wine shops must be located at a distance of a minimum of 50 meters from educational and religious institutions.

NOTHING TO CHEER

Mumbaikars may soon have to go hunting for liquor 

125 Wine shops that have migrated out of Mumbai in last 5 years

475 Functional wine shops vend in Mumbai metropolis

1,555 Functional wine shops vend in the state

IN THE PAST

  • Mumbai and suburbs have already seen around 125 wine shops migrate to other districts in last five years   
  • The state government has stopped issuing new wine shop or country liquor shop licenses since 1973   
  • This means only existing wine shop license holders can transfer or shift their licenses