Glenfiddich eyes 30% share of Indian single malt whisky market

UK-based spirits maker William Grant & Sons is eyeing over 30 percent of the single malt Scotch whisky market in India in the next six to seven years as it plans to offer more products and expand reach in the country.

It is presently having around one-fourth of the Indian single malt Scotch whiskey market through its brand Glenfiddich.

The current size of the Indian single malt Scotch whisky is around 1.5 lakh cases. A case contains nine bottles of one litre whiskey.

"Last year, Glenfiddich was about 40,000 cases out of that. We are growing our market share here. Earlier, we were around 25,000 cases and we are looking at double digit growth," William Grant & Sons India Head of Marketing Shweta Jain told PTI.

On being asked by when it would have one-third of the market share, she said: "probably in the next 6 to 7 years".

The whisky maker has several brands in its Indian portfolio including Balvenie, Monkey Shoulder, Hendrick's Gin, Grant's and other varietals from Glenfiddich.

The company is also introducing some of its leading brands from its global portfolio.

"Step by step we are doing it. In the last quarter of the previous year, we had introduced Monkey Shoulder and many more is going to come in," Jain added.

According to her, now Indians are travelling globally and are exploring the popular brands across the globe.

"Faster adaption are happening to various pallets, so we are closely watching that as we want to participate in that opportunity. We want to bring the very best we have to offer globally into the country as well," she said, adding that appetite for nicer quality drink among Indians is going up.

William Grant & Sons is having a triple digit growth in India as it is introducing new brands here.

"We are introducing varietals also. Its not just one expression. Within Glenfiddich, we introduced 26 years old and 21 years old recently. Within Grants more and more expression are coming in. We have small presence for many years but we are now wanting to expand," she added.