The craze for this type of alcohol is increasing rapidly
The effect of changing lifestyle in India has now reached the ‘glasses’ of the people. The discussion of alcohol, once held in hushed tones, is now becoming an important part of drawing rooms and social gatherings. A recent report and statements of industry leaders confirm that the stereotypes regarding drinking alcohol are rapidly breaking in the Indian society. This change is not only social, but is also taking place in the economic world. Let us know what is the reason for this change.
According to a report by ET, the French Liquor Jean Touboul, CEO of the manufacturing company ‘Pernod Ricard India’, believes that the purchasing power of the people in India has increased, and along with it, there has also been a change in their preference for ‘premium’. Now youth are giving preference to expensive and premium brands instead of normal liquor.
Growing market of expensive liquor
According to the report of Economics Times, India has now become not just a market but a ‘growth engine’ for big companies like Pernod Ricard. Statistics show that India’s contribution to the company’s global sales in the last financial year was 13 percent. This figure is also important because India has left China behind in this matter and now it has occupied second place after America.
Jean Touboul says that every year about 2 crore youth in India enter the legal age where they can legally drink alcohol. This is a huge customer segment, which is directly entering the market. Macroeconomic trends are indicating that the day is not far when India will overtake America in terms of alcohol consumption and market. The reason for this is that companies are now moving out of the lower category i.e. cheap liquor segment and focusing their attention on premium and super-premium drinks, because Indians are no longer shying away from shelling out money for ‘quality’.
Also read: What alcohol does the world’s most powerful person Donald Trump drink? here is the answer
India’s ‘trend’ is different from the world
While on one hand globally youth are becoming health conscious and staying away from alcohol, on the other hand in India the Ganga is flowing in reverse. According to another report, there is a huge increase of 357 million liters of alcohol consumption in India between 2024 and 2029. The paradox is interesting that when the world is on its way to becoming ‘sober’ (addiction-free), India is poised to become the fastest growing alcohol market in the world.
Data from Bloomberg report show that per capita alcohol consumption in India was 3.1 liters in 2020, which has increased to 3.2 liters in 2023 and is likely to reach 3.4 liters by 2028. According to Business Standard, today the liquor market in India is worth US $ 60 billion, which makes it very important on the global business map.