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| Chhabria set for debut in brandy |
| Reghu Balakrishnan / Mar 17, 2011, 00:03 IST |
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 Kishore Chhabria is set to join the long list of Indian liquor giants in the brandy market. The Chhabria-promoted Rs 1,200 crore Allied Blenders & Distillers (ABD) will launch two brandy brands in South India next month.
South India accounts for almost 99 per cent of the country’s brandy market. From January 2010 to January 2011, brandy sales went up 24 per cent to 45 million cases against 36 million cases in the same period of last year. The overall Indian brandy market is about 46 million cases. In South India, Tamil Nadu registered the highest sales of 29 million cases followed by Kerala (7 million) and Andhra Pradesh (5 million).
Chhabria will surely face tough competition as the market has big players such as McDowell, Morpheus, Courier Napoleon and Bols XO Excellance.
ABD can, however, take heart from the fact that it has a fair experience of tough competition and came out a winner in the whiskey segment. ABD’s most popular brand – Officer’s Choice – is the second largest in India with sales of 15.7 million cases, trailing Bagpiper, owned by Vijay Mallya’s United Spirits (USL). Officer’s Choice has, however, pushed McDowell No.1 brand to the third slot.
Deepak Roy, executive vice chairman & CEO, ABD, expects the new brandy brands to corner 10-12 per cent share in the South Indian brandy market in the first year itself. “Our new product is differentiated with its cognac style with French grape blend. High quality production by expert blenders and world class packaging will be our trump cards,” says Roy who holds 5 per cent stake in ABD.
ABD’s brandy, says Roy, will operate in the premium (Rs 500-550 per bottle) and semi-premium (Rs 300-350) segments of the market.
The major selling brandy brands in the country are McDowell No.1 priced at about Rs 350 for a 750 ml bottle. Morpheus from Radico Khaitan costs Rs 550-700.
Tilaknagar Industries' Courier Napoleon brandy and Caesar brandy from the USL portfolio are the major brands operating in the premium brandy segment, priced at about Rs 500. Another new brand is Bols XO Excellance, marketed through BolsKyndal, a joint venture between Netherlands-based Lucas Bols BV and Kyndal India Pvt. Ltd. Last month, McDowell introduced McDowell's VSOP Brandy in Karnataka, after it was launched in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
In the regular segment, McDowell Brandy has about 35 per cent share of the overall Indian brandy market; Courier Napoleon Premium Brandy follows suit with 30 per cent. Morpheus Premium Brandy has about 14 per cent share while Bols Premium Brandy comes fourth with 11 per cent.
ABD has also launched a new vodka brand – Class with one more variant Class-21. Class, which is already available in Maharashtra, Punjab and West Bengal, will be launched nationally by April.
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