hometravel Newsfood and drinks NewsPernod Ricard India to bring its global tequila brands to the country, expand wine portfolio amid rising demand
Pernod Ricard India to bring its global tequila brands to the country, expand wine portfolio amid rising demand
While the company launched new brands recently in the gins space, it is now eyeing the tequila segment and is actively looking at building a portfolio for this white spirit in India by bringing some tequila brands from its global portfolio to the Indian market. Pernod Ricard’s global portfolio of tequila currently includes brands like Olmeca and Avion Tequila.
French spirits maker Pernod Ricard, which sells brands such as Blenders Pride, Royal Stag, Chivas Regal, Jamesons, and Absolut among others, says it will be investing in white spirits in the Indian market, a category it has been seeing strong demand for.
While the company launched new brands recently in the gins space, it is now eyeing the tequila segment and is actively looking at building a portfolio for this white spirit in India by bringing some tequila brands from its global portfolio to the Indian market. Pernod Ricard’s global portfolio of tequila currently includes brands like Olmeca and Avion Tequila.
“So for us, tequila is becoming another interesting category, or consumers are now sipping tequila, and enjoying a variety of brands. We do have tequila brands in our portfolio globally. We are very bullish about getting this into our portfolio in India very soon,” Ranjeet Oak, Chief Commercial Officer of Pernod Ricard India told CNBC-TV18 in an interaction at their distillery in Keith, Scotland.
Interestingly, its rival Diageo India’s (United Spirits) Managing Director & CEO Hina Nagarajan also recently said that Tequila is a category that is on the company’s watch list for the Indian market.
However, Oak says that while Pernod is now actively looking to expand its white spirits portfolio in line with changing consumer trends, scotch whisky, which currently accounts for 80 percent of its India’s portfolio, will remain the core of its business.
For the company, India is its third-largest market in terms of top line, and the largest market in terms of volume for Pernod Ricard globally.
Over the past year, gin has been the white spirit winner for Pernod Ricard India, especially on the back of launches like Beefeater Pink, Malfy from Italy, and its premium Japanese gin Ki No Bi.
“We've seen some significant growth in our gin portfolio, which is currently running ahead of our vodka portfolio thanks to all the new launches that we've had in the last year or so. We are very, very bullish about this portfolio’s growth continuing over the next 3-5 year period at the same rates that we’re seeing now,” Oak added.
Beyond white spirits, the maker of 100 Pipers is also looking at expanding its wines portfolio in India, which includes bringing some of its global wine brands to India. The company already sells Campo Viejo and Jacobs Creek under this portfolio. Oak adds that they are trying to build a wine culture in India, as part of which it will now expand this portfolio actively.
“Overall, we'll be focusing on both bringing in brands to fill out the gaps that exist within our portfolio or for the changing consumer needs. At the same time, we will be innovating in India, making for India and hopefully also exporting this out to other markets,” Oak adds.
These expansion plans come on the back of growth revival not just for Pernod, but India’s alcohol beverage market overall. Pernod Ricard India, Oak says, has come back on a double-digit growth trajectory with sales now higher than pre-COVID levels. And like the rest of the market, Pernod is also focusing on the premiumisation of its portfolio.
However, Pernod Ricard India’s business operations in the country haven’t been without challenges.
Oak maintains that India is an extremely important market for the company and that they are investing in operations.
“Currently, we have about 97% of our portfolio in terms of volume, which is a product that is designed, manufactured and sold in India. So I think for us, it's an investment market, and it will continue to be so. And we've seen this through the kind of operations that we've set up in India. We have two of our own plants, we have 29 bottling partners that we work with,” Oak adds.
First Published: Aug 2, 2023 8:16 PM IST
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