Updated on Dec 25, at 3.13 p.m.

The state’s decision to relax liquor prohibitions in GIFT City can be the part of the plan to make the project bustling with a sizable crowd in the upcoming decade and their bid towards creating a VIP culture in the state.

Planned at a cost of more than ₹6,000 cr in 2007, GIFT City’s first phase was completed at a cost of ₹826 cr.

As per the claims of the state government, 23 international banks, 35 international IT companies, and two international stock exchanges have been set up here.

However, only 25% of the work has been completed, and 10% of the offices have been made operational in the financial hub, spread over 886 acres near the state capital. The city lacks the desired amount of activity.

Plans to extend the city limits to Dabhoda and Dehgam are also considered.

The selling conditions

According to reports, hotels, restaurants, and clubs will have the licence to sell liquor, but it will be served in pegs and not in bottles. This is bound to make liquor more expensive, as a 300% excise will be levied on it by the prohibition and excise department.

Although speculation is made of more hotels and restaurants being built after this move, the prices will differ based on the vicinity, hotels, and other categories.

Updated on Dec 24, at 2.11 p.m.

The surprising decision to relax the liquor ban in GIFT City of Gujarat, a dry state, sparked chatters across the state over the permit. While the conditions of the relaxation are yet to be decided, the conversations around its implementations and complications around it are absolutely abuzz.

The narcotics and excise department will prepare the regulations around the relaxation in the financial hub. 

The official ‘wine and dine’ permit is expected to take about two months for approval for the employees. How the beneficiaries under the relaxation will be defined, is a burning question, too.

Currently, two locations in GIFT City can get an FL-III licence (for selling liquor to consumers), which includes a hotel and a clubhouse.

State authorities welcome the decision

Among the top ministers in the state, Raghavji Patel has come forward in support of this decision, saying that when people from other states and abroad come to Gujarat, it is necessary to take care of them. He adds that nothing is wrong with allowing them to drink alcohol.

He also noted that if there is a demand for the relaxation of the liquor ban from other places in the state, the state government will consider it.

A senior official in the tourism department also noted that the government may consider relaxing the liquor ban with a temporary permit at top tourist spots, like the Statue of Unity, Rann utsav in Kutch, beaches along the state’s coast, and other entertainment spots, except religious places.

The state’s spokesperson, Rushikesh Patel, mentioned that the relaxation does not mean that alcohol consumption has been allowed in the whole of Gujarat.

He added that, as ten foreign banks and 50 foreign finance companies are located in the financial hub, the government is bound to take this decision for the convenience of the employees of those companies.

The economy opportunity

Bureaucrats have also welcomed this call, saying the exemption of liquor in the GIFT City will reportedly fetch the government an income of ₹1,000 cr every year.

They also estimated that the removal of the liquor ban across the state may give the government an income of ₹50,000 cr every year.

State’s history with liquor policy

A liquor ban has been in place in Mahatma Gandhi’s home state, Gujarat, since the state’s formation in 1960.

However, liquor relaxations have been made in several instances: selected zones of Ahmedabad and Rajkot in 1961, Surat in 1962, and Vadodara in 1965 allowed the sale of foreign liquor officially.

A total of 77 hotels in Gujarat have official permission to sell foreign liquor, and people who have a liquor permit (official permission to drink liquor) buy liquor from here.

These include 21 places in Ahmedabad, 8 in Rajkot, 7 in Vadodara, 9 in Surat, four each in Anand, Gandhinagar, and Gandhidham, three each in Bharuch and Bhavnagar, two each in Jamnagar, Junagadh, Kheda-Nadiad, and Bhuj, and one each in Amreli, Ankleshwar, Mundra, Mehsana, Morbi, and Surendranagar.

A resident of Gujarat can avail of an official permit to consume liquor under a ‘health permit’ or ‘permit for medicinal use’.

Although considered difficult to get, its grantees have doubled in the last four years. Currently, there are approximately 52,000 permit holders in Gujarat.

In two years, 3.13 lakh temporary permits, including those for Indians coming to settle in Gujarat from other states, visiting foreigners for one month, group permits for persons to attend a conference, etc, have been issued.

Even now, with the Vibrant Summit in sight, on-the-spot permits are given to people coming from outside Gujarat at a specified permit desk set up at the airport.

Notably, every year, Gujarat registers nearly a quarter to a million cases under the Prohibition Act.

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