4 microbreweries to start in Delhi from Sep 1st week; mobile app to give info on liquor vends

Four microbreweries serving draught beer will start operations in Delhi from September first week while a mobile app has been developed to provide information on dry days, liquor brands and their availability, officials said Tuesday.

Four microbreweries serving draught beer will start operations in Delhi from September first week while a mobile app has been developed to provide information on dry days, liquor brands and their availability, officials said Tuesday. The mAbkaridelhi mobile app will be available in Hindi and English and can be downloaded from Google Play Store from September. The iOS version will be made available shortly, officials said.

It will provide a host of information, retail vends in a locality, their timings and also enable searching vends in alphabetical order. The app also has the option to submit feedback, they said.

Delhi government agencies are slated to take over the retail liquor business in the city from September 1 following the withdrawal of the Excise Policy 2021-22 after Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in its implementation.

Earlier, two microbreweries operated in Delhi – one in Connaught Place and another at a five-star hotel on Janpath Road. Those closed over a year ago, liquor trade experts said.

In the Excise Policy 2021-22, microbreweries were allowed along with takeaway facility for beer lovers. However, no new microbreweries could open in the city due to various reasons, including the requirement of multi-agency approvals.

''We have permitted three to four microbreweries that will start operations from the first week of September. They are awaiting licences due to some pending approvals by different agencies,'' said a senior Excise department officer.

Microbreweries manufacture and serve draught beer to consumers with an installed capacity of not more than 1,000 litres per day, subject to permission from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, officials said.

''There are plans to promote draught beer by setting up microbreweries in Delhi as there is a significant demand in the segment. More microbreweries will come up in the near future,'' an official said.

Over 300 liquor vends, several of them in malls and near Metro stations, have been readied and the number will grow further as four Delhi government undertakings – DTTDC, DSSIDC, DSCSC and DCCWS – enter the retail liquor business from next month, officials said. The government had issued zonal licences to private bidders for 849 liquor vends across the city under the Excise Policy, 2021-22. The private operators will shut shop from September 1.

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