The recently implemented liquor policy, which permits corporate offices in Haryana to offer low-alcoholic beverages in their cafeterias, has received minimal attention and failed to generate any enthusiasm thus far.
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Despite being home to thousands of multinational corporations and startups, including around 300 listed as Fortune 500 companies, not a single company has shown interest in applying or even inquiring about the newly introduced L-10F license since its introduction on June 1. According to officials, the reason behind this lack of response is that only a few companies meet the “strict criteria” necessary for applying for this license.
In order to apply for a license, offices must satisfy the following requirements: they must have a minimum covered area of 100,000 square feet without any obstructions in between different sections, and they must employ at least 5,000 individuals. Furthermore, these offices must have a cafeteria that spans at least 2,000 square feet, which serves low-alcoholic beverages.
“Forget applications, we haven’t even received any enquiries for the L-10F licence,” said a senior excise official, pointing out that new liquor policies usually start getting responses within a few days of their applications.
The L-10F licence will be valid for only 12 months from the date it is granted. “With the strict criteria in place, we were anyway not expecting a large number of applications for this licence. But we hoped there would be a lot of excitement and a number of enquiries for the provisions. The response is disappointing,” the official said.
According to Ravinder Singh, the deputy excise and taxation commissioner (east), the cost of the L-10F license would be comparable to that of a bar permit.
“The corporate office applying for it would have to pay INR 10 lakh annually as the licence fee. Besides, it will have to cough up INR 3 lakh as security deposit,” he added.
Amit Bhatia, his counterpart in the west zone, mentioned that one of the prerequisites for obtaining the license was the necessity for the office to be located in an independent structure.
“The premises have to be one single patch. There can’t be a thoroughfare or links to any other building,” he said.
Consequently, buildings that house multiple offices, a common occurrence in the city, are excluded from consideration. Additionally, the policy does not extend to Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and IT Parks. Since liquor licenses in these establishments fall under the jurisdiction of the town and country planning department, they are prohibited from serving any form of alcohol. Liquor licenses are not granted to offices located in IT Parks and SEZs, even temporarily or for events.
“With all such offices out of the purview, there will only be a dozen establishments that will meet the criteria of this policy. And even those that do may not apply for the licence because their HR policy may not allow liquor on the office premises,” another official said.
