Tamil Nadu digitises liquor stock supply: Handheld devices, mandatory OTP login for shops from Sep 1

CHENNAI: The liquor sales monopoly in Tamil Nadu, TASMAC, has announced a new automated indent request process for all retail shops across the state, with effect from September 1.

Under the new system, liquor shop supervisors will submit stock indents using dedicated handheld devices, fully replacing manual submissions.

Accordingly, consumers will get their preferred brand based on sales in that particular area, and now consumers will get their choice of liquor, a senior official said on Friday.

The initiative stems from an official directive issued by Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) Managing Director K Nanthakumar following executive decisions made at the corporate office.

In an order, he said, building on the complete end-to-end computerisation achieved across all 38 districts and depots in mid-2025, this tech-driven procedure aims to streamline stock distribution, eliminate paperwork, and prevent supply bottlenecks.

"Under the new digital mechanism, eligibility quantities for each shop will automatically populate on the handheld device, organised by specific brands and pack sizes", he said, adding, "while supervisors cannot reduce the system-generated base figures, they are allowed to increase stock orders by up to 20 per cent based on local demand.

He also said that supervisors retain the flexibility to add registered brands not featured on their automated list to cater to localised customer preferences.

"To ensure high accountability, physical submissions at District Manager (DM) offices will be completely phased out, and the final indent submissions will require mandatory One-Time Password (OTP) authentication sent to the registered mobile number of the designated shop supervisor".

Quantities confirmed via the system will be treated as final and forwarded directly to local depots for stock dispatch, placing sole verification responsibility on the shop supervisors.

The order further said that ahead of September 1, TASMAC is conducting a pilot phase where printed copies signed by district managers are being processed to monitor system performance.