‘Consumption set to grow tremendously across segments’
Kapil Sekhri Co-promoter and Director, Fratelli Vineyards
(Chairperson of the session)
We are a young nation, which is coming out of the stigma of secretive drinking and becoming liberal to social drinking. Alcohol is no more about getting drunk. Now it is about enjoyment as from art or a good movie/theatre. There are 20 million Indians coming into the drinking age every year with disposable income. So, the Indian liquor industry has a huge potential like all other industries. Though today India is behind China on various growth parameters, it expected to leave China behind across all channels.
At present we have low consumption across every segment of alcohol. But the consumption is bound to grow leaps and bounds across every segment. However, we as producers and importers of all kinds of alcohol must keep in mind that the Indian consumer is getting wiser and wiser. So, it is our responsibility to ensure that the consumer drinks the right stuff.
In alcohol segments, wine has a huge potential. If you want more involved wine drinkers coming in, then you need to ensure that good wine is available at a good price. As we have to catch legal age drinkers young, they should be able to explore more alcohol at the right price. Needless to say, alcohol in India is a price sensitive market and it’s going to remain so for the next 20 years. Let’s hope it continues to be price sensitive. Because the last thing we want to get into is unnecessary exuberance which came into Malaysia and Indonesia. We all know what happened there – the bubble burst. We would rather have the most steady, consistent growth which India will definitely see.
A word for Chilean wines. It’s one of the largest growing countries in terms of global consumption of its wines. They are making wines globally. They have uncomplicated wine
consumption. Their wines don’t have screw caps, and they don’t have to be decanted. Having Chilean wine is more about enjoyment rather than struggling to understand touchme-not kind of wines. It’s good that India is catching up on Chilean wines.