Sudip Majumder – President, International Division, SV Distributor Pvt Ltd
India is considered as an emerging market in the alco-beverage world. Most of the international alco-beverage players have their shop in the country. Initially they entered India with an Indian partner and later on everybody set up a 100% subsidiary company. IDV, now Diageo, was the first to move in, followed by Seagram, Pernod Richard, Beam Global, Brown Forman and other major players. Today, for Pernod Ricard, India is no more an emerging market. It’s a big global market for them, even bigger than their home market France.
If we work systematically, India can be one of the biggest markets for any international/domestic player. The only thing we have to focus on is that we have to plan for 10 years or 15 years ahead. Pernod Ricard from day one knew what they wanted to achieve in India. And, growth opportunities were equal for all the big brands in all price segments because of India’s huge population. But Pernod Ricard did exceedingly well and now this achievement in India is a case study in international board meetings.
I have launched brands like Smirnoff and also sold brands like Armand de Brignac and champagne Dom Perignon. I foresee a huge potential in the premium and luxury space in both BIO and IMFL industry. So far, whisky is the biggest buy in the spirits industry and vodka is also going to grow further. But, I foresee a dramatic growth in international brands of gin and
rum in India, and even of Indian rums apart from Old Monk. My friend Gautom Menon did a fantastic job by launching premium Wild Tiger Rum. This rum is already present in 40 countries
and everywhere it has been appreciated so well.
Whatever you do, if you do your homework correctly you are going to conquer the world. Amrut and Paul John have shown that. Radico Khaitan has also come up with Rampur
Single Malt. With the Indian market emerging big time, there is a need for a good set of single malt importers. Companies cannot set up their own operations in India because of so many legal issues and regulations. There should be more importers who are ready to set up pan-India operations with official manpower in place. Today barely 4-5 importers are working on pan-India level. Most of the importers are regional players either in North or West or East hence it becomes very difficult for an international brand to get here.
I also see liqueurs as a promising segment. It is growing exponentially with the cocktail culture coming up big time in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. Because of the small base liqueurs can grow like 100% annually. Very few companies, which have explored business prospects in liqueurs, are growing at a rate of 30-40%. Some of them even at 100%. Beer too has bright growth prospects. Currently its base is very small. Our per capita beer consumption is below 2 litres, which is nothing in comparison to our neighbour China’s 30 litres. So there is no limit to growth in beer. More growth is going to come from the premium and imported beer segments.
In the imported beer segment, right now, only one player, Corona, is working. If there are 3-4 players, the entire segment will grow. If you go to any international city, you will see 50 taps of the drought beer. In India that thing has finally started, generally, with a like 10 taps. In Mumbai, a beer outlet has come up with 20 taps.
In wines, India has market for all segments. I think Chile has set a great example in terms of quality and price in India. All the good Chilean wines are fantastic and have affordable, value-for-money price. In India people are ready to pay a price for the good premium wine. That’s why some wines, priced at Rs 5000, are flying off the shelf. If promoted correctly, wine is
going to see a substantial growth.