Having received over 100,166 applications by Friday, 5 pm, the Telangana excise department is poised to establish remarkable new benchmarks in the country’s liquor shop license auction.
Having accumulated 25,563 applications on Friday alone (until 5 pm), along with 30,752 applications on Thursday, the excise department is poised to generate over INR 2,000 crore solely from the application sales. This stands in stark contrast to the Rs 900 crore garnered in the previous auction for the 2021-23 period.
Officials have indicated that the count of received applications is likely to increase further by late Friday night, and the definitive tally will only be ascertainable on Saturday. The closing time for submitting applications to secure the liquor license was on Friday.
As per figures, 74,613 applications were filed till Thursday and 6,000 were to be added to the tally as they were filed by paying demand drafts,” an official said. “If one lakh applications were filed, it means each of the 2,620 shops got on an average 38 applications though there is no uniformity in average number of applications for each shop,” he said.
As per experts, the state’s excise division is poised to establish a unique record in the country with a substantial count of over one lakh applications. This marks a significant leap from the 69,691 applications received during the 2021-23 period. Initially, on August 4, only 191 applications were filed; however, the excise department’s vigorous marketing efforts propelled the numbers to unprecedented levels.
The surge in applications commenced on August 11, with a filing of 8,491 applications, followed by 6,252, 13,473, and 8,912 applications on August 12, 14, and 16 respectively. Notably, Shamshabad received a total of 8,409 applications for 134 shops, while Saroornagar secured a remarkable 8,263 applications for 100 shops.
“By the time scrutiny is done, both mandals will set new records as over 10,000 applications would have been received by each,” an official said.
Nalgonda, with 6,134 applications, and Khammam, with 5,906 applications, closely trail behind. Hyderabad garnered 2,331 applications for 80 shops, while Secunderabad received 2,396 applications for 99 shops. Remarkably, around 50 applications were submitted for a solitary shop in the open category within Ameerpet.
Out of a total of 2,620 shops, 1,834 establishments fall under the open category, while the remaining 786 are distributed across three reserved categories.
“Filing of applications will continue till late Friday and final figures will be out on Saturday,” said an official. Nirmal got fewest applications at 657.