French wine & spirits maker Pernod Ricard raises India bar on premium play

Working to get back to Delhi market soon, says India CEO

French wine and spirits maker Pernod Ricard expects to report double-digit growth in India in the medium-term on the back of a strong premiumisation trend emerging in the country.

“We are now the second market worldwide for Pernod Ricard and India continues to be a big growth engine for the group. Our compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) over the past five years was 8 per cent, which is robust and was maintained at a rather high level,” said Jean Touboul, chief executive officer, Pernod Ricard India.

The maker of Absolut vodka and Jameson whisky recorded a 6.1 per cent growth in the country in the year ending June 30, 2024. France follows a July-June financial year.

In the past few months, the company has been involved in several run-ins with regulatory authorities. Earlier this year, the company’s appeal to regain its license to sell liquor in Delhi was rejected

“From a business standpoint, it's not a massive impact. But still, I'm hungry for any additional business and would love to be back, so we are working on it again -- collaborating with authorities to get our license back as soon as possible,” Touboul said.

"There is no reason why, according to our analysis, we should be denied the license. We have done nothing wrong. There has been absolutely no judgment against Pernod Ricard India. It's our intention to be back in the Delhi market whenever possible,” he added.

While Touboul did not comment on the recent reports of the company putting up its Imperial Blue whisky brand for sale, he said that while it has not grown as fast as the higher end of the portfolio, it is an important entry-level brand.

“Imperial Blue has not grown as fast as the higher end brands, which is perfectly fine with us as it's a large base brand. It has its role to play in our portfolio. But in our premiumisation strategy, we want to focus our investment and the development to the higher part of the portfolio. So it's natural that the performance of Imperial Blue has been less strong than the higher part of the portfolio, which is our focus, and the strongest performing brands – Royal Stag and Blenders Pride," he said.

Royal Stag is the company’s largest-selling brand, and sells as many as 29 million cases annually.

The company recently launched two whisky brands -- ‘Royal Stag Double Dark’ and ‘Blenders Pride Four Elements’ -- as part of its premiumisation strategy.

It is also working to increase exports from India to around 70 markets from 40 countries.