NEW DELHI, Oct 23: India’s million-plus army is consuming much more alcohol than permitted, causing huge financial losses to the state and raising suspicions of widespread black marketeering, a report said.

Among the biggest culprits is the Indian army’s most prestigious hospital in New Delhi and a military spy unit attached to Prime Minister Manmohan’s office, the Midday evening newspaper said on Thursday.

When contacted, defence ministry and army sources confirmed there was a serious problem. Indian soldiers are allowed a certain amount of heavily-subsidised liquor for personal consumption, but the report said the limit was being widely flouted.

It said 43 army units had inflicted a loss of around Rs100 million on the government over the past 18 months, the paper said.

“We suspect some of it is finding its way into the civilian market and we are trying to plug it,” a colonel from the army’s Central Stores Department said.

A major-general was arrested in 2005 after he smuggled two truck-loads of liquor to the open market, where military alcohol can be sold for double the price soldiers pay.

The army recently issued smart cards to its 1.23 million troopers keep tabs on consumption.—AFP