A quiet policy shift in India’s most tightly regulated alcohol market is beginning to show up in the numbers. At GIFT City--India’s flagship international financial services hub carved out within prohibition-bound Gujarat ---revenues from “wine and dine” facilities have surged over 522 per cent in financial year 2025-26, following a gradual easing of liquor access norms.

The impact is now becoming visible in absolute terms. Revenues from these facilities rose to ₹1.94 crore in FY26 from ₹31.27 lakh in FY25, even as the state continues to enforce prohibition elsewhere. While the revenue base remains modest, the sharp rise underscores how demand responds quickly when access barriers are lowered—even within a tightly controlled ecosystem.

This growth comes barely a year after controlled liquor access was first allowed in the greenfield financial hub in December 2023. Liquor sales in GIFT City are currently restricted to just two entities— the Grand Mercure Gandhinagar GIFT City and GIFT City Club operated by West India Recreation Projects Pvt Ltd. Despite this limited footprint, both operators have reported sharp growth. Revenue at Grand Mercure rose 3.5 times year-on-year, while the GIFT City Club saw an even steeper over eight-fold jump, indicating strong latent demand.

Officials attribute the surge to a calibrated easing of prohibition norms by the Government of Gujarat. The revised framework allows non-resident visitors to access liquor by simply producing a valid photo ID, removing the earlier requirement of obtaining a liquor permit. Permit holders can now host up to 25 guests at a time, while diners without permits are allowed entry into wine-and-dine areas for food. Employees working in GIFT City are also eligible to obtain liquor access permits based on their ID cards, further widening the pool of eligible consumers within the restricted zone.

Since 2024, a total of 1,320 liquor permits, including six group permits, have been issued in GIFT City. The state government has earned about ₹26.5 lakh from permit fees so far. Individual permits are priced at ₹2,000 with a validity of two years, while group permits cost ₹5,000. According to industry sources, the GIFT City model is increasingly being seen as a limited but significant experiment in relaxing prohibition norms to support a global business environment, without diluting the broader policy framework in Gujarat.

Published on May 1, 2026