300% profit margin! You’ve been paying unfairly high for single malts in Delhi
Delhi Liquor Scam: Foreign liquor wholesalers (L1F licensees) had excessive control over their pricing, setting profit margins as high as 347%, which increased liquor prices for consumers, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the Delhi Excise Policy tabled in the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday claimed.
The report tabled by the newly elected CM Rekha Gupta highlighted the alleged irregularities in the liquor policy brought during the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
“In case of Foreign Liquor, Government adopted a very liberal policy as L1F licensee was at liberty to determine its profit margin at its discretion. Audit noticed that the profit margin of three test checked L1F licensees ranged from 44% to 347% of the Landed Price, and the average of percentage of profit margin to landed price was 255%, 243%, 169% and 172% during the years 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 respectively. This resulted in inflated MRP for Foreign Liquor despite very low cost of import,” the report noted.