Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Wednesday, Dec 17, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Wednesday, Dec 17, 2003 |
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Marketing
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Market Shares Seagram among top-5 IMFL cos Boby Kurian
Bangalore , Dec. 16 SEAGRAM has emerged as the first multinational company to be in the list of top-five Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) companies in the country. With sales inching towards five million cases annually, the quiet rise of Seagram Manufacturing Pvt Ltd, part of Groupe Pernod Ricard, has resulted in more competition for the domestic liquor majors. The available industry figures suggest that Seagram follows UB Spirits Division (UBSPD), Shaw Wallace, Mohan Meakins and Radico Khaitan in the pecking order of the Indian spirits companies. Seagram closed last calendar year with sales hovering around 4.5 million cases mainly powered by the growth of its whisky brands Royal Stag and Imperial Blue, both of which sell over a million cases annually. The other brands in its IMFL portfolio include Blenders' Pride, Seagram's Extra Dry Gin, the newly launched vodka Fling, Ron Amigoz rum and Three Kings brandy. This is apart from the locally bottled Scotch brands like 100 Pipers and imported premium brands such as Chivas Regal. Seagram did not comment on the projected sale for the current year. Analysts said the notable aspect of Seagram's growth has been its brand building abilities to drive sales solely through the premium, `prestige' and `regular plus' segments of the liquor industry. It must be mentioned that most IMFL companies derive a sizeable part of their sales from cheap to medium priced segments in a market estimated at over 85 million cases annually. In fact, Seagram's Imperial Blue and Royal Stag whiskieswere the fastest growing brands in the domestic market during 2002. Imperial Blue registered a 144 per cent rise in sales to touch 1.10 million cases from 0.45 million in the previous year, while Royal Stag with 53 per cent rise in sales touched 1.75 million from 1.12 million cases in 2001. Groupe Pernod Ricard, perhaps taking note of Seagram's impressive growth in the country, inducted the Managing Director of Indian business, Mr Param Uberoi, into its executive committee, which takes strategic decisions on worldwide operations. Mr Uberoi also heads Pernod Ricard's South Asian subsidiary that manages businesses in India, Sri Lanka and the Middle-East. Seagram's Indian operations went to Pernod Ricard's fold two years ago when the French company along with Diageo Plc split Seagram's worldwide assets following a joint acquisition. With Pernod Ricard open to inorganic growth through acquisitions in the country, Seagram is likely to remain the most closely tracked spirits entity in the domestic market.
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