Special Chief Secretary (Excise) Rajat Bhargava, along with A.P. State Beverages Corporation Limited (APSBCL) Managing Director D. Vasudeva Reddy, launched the digital payment system in a retail liquor outlet here on Friday.
“Online payment has been introduced at 11 liquor shops on a pilot basis,” Mr. Rajat Bhargava said later.
“The APSBCL, with the help of the State Bank of India (SBI), has introduced the digital payments modes such as debit and credit cards, and UPI/QR code-enabled services such as PhonePe and Google Pay for purchase of liquor. The consumers still have the option to make cash payments,” Mr. Bhargava said.
“At present, cash payments alone are accepted at the retail outlets. Permitting digital modes will help make payments easy for the customers,” said SBI Deputy General Manager K. Ranga Rajan.
“Online payments will be introduced in all the 3,700-plus retail liquor outlets across the State soon,” Mr. Vasudeva Reddy said.
Prohibition and Excise Additional Commissioner Deva Kumar, Deputy Commissioner Y. Chaintanya Murali, Assistant Commissioner V. Renuka, and Excise Superintendent Sowri were present.
