Radico Khaitan distills plans for spirited catch-up move

The number two company in the Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) market, Radico Khaitan, would launch two premium whiskies this year, said its chief financial officer, Dilip Banthiya.

Radico’s mainline whisky brands, Whytehall and 8PM, sit in the prestige and regular segments, respectively. The company has no presence as of now in the premium domain, which it hopes to address with the launch later this year. Says Banthiya, “The premium segment is something we are looking at seriously this year. We wish to close the gap in our product portfolio.”

Launching premium products is imperative for Radico, since rivals such as United Spirits and Pernod Ricard have had a headstart. United Spirits has Royal Challenge, while Pernod Ricard has Blender’s Pride in the premium whisky space.

More important, the premium space is seeing double-digit growth, at 15 per cent yearly. This is second only to the prestige segment, the fastest growing in the whisky category at 24 per cent yearly.

Overall, the whisky market — the largest IMFL category — is 150-million-case strong. The IMFL market is 200 million cases (a case is nine litres or 12 bottles) in all.

In the whisky category, the economy and regular segments constitute 30 per cent each, while prestige is 20 per cent and premium is 15 per cent. The imported segment constitutes barely five per cent of the whisky market, say alcoholic beverage experts.

One reason for the double-digit growth of both premium and prestige segments is because of their affordable price points. “Products in the prestige and premium segments fall in the Rs 300-600 bracket,” says Banthiya. “For consumers who are scaling up, this is decent enough,” he says.

No wonder, say experts, Radico is eyeing the market seriously.

For the quarter ended March 31, the company’s net profit increased 21 times to touch Rs 9.6 crore as against Rs 43 lakh a year before. Net sales increased 25 per cent to touch Rs 297.7 crore for the quarter under review as against Rs 238.2 crore last year. For the full year ended March 31, net profit increased over five times to touch Rs 41.54 crore as against Rs 6.5 crore last year. Net sales, on the other hand, increased 23 per cent to touch Rs 1,147.1 crore as against Rs 932.7 crore last year.