The Hindu Business Line : United Spirits adding more brands in vodka portfolio

The company dominates the vodka market mainly in the regular segment, with more than 75 per cent share through its brands such as White Mischief and Romanov.

K. Giriprakash

Bangalore, Dec. 3

Liquor company United Spirits is adding more brands to its vodka portfolio to catch the fast-growing trend of the alcoholic beverage.

United Spirits is rolling out its new launches — Romanov Red in the premium category and the recently acquired Pinky Vodka, a super premium category brand, which it bought from the US-based Liquidity Inc.

Priced at around Rs 3,000 per 750 ml bottle, Pinky Vodka is being rolled out in different cities over the last few months. “The best thing about vodka drinkers is that they are not loyal to any particular brand,” Mr Anant Iyer, the business head for luxury brands for United Spirits told Business Line. The total size of the super premium segment is about 5,000 cases per year.

Vodka is growing at a faster clip than any other drink posting a 35-40 per cent growth, says Mr Debashish Shyam, the business head for premium brands of United Spirits.

Market size

The total alcobev market is growing at about 10-15 per cent. The total market size of vodka is about four million cases per year but the shift from beer to vodka is faster than it was before, Mr Shyam said. He explained that there are more converts to vodka than whisky, probably because vodka can be mixed with any other drink. Also, as it does not smell as much as any other alcoholic beverage, its inconspicuous consumption is drawing more converts.

Romanov Red, considered India’s first multi-grain, multi-distilled vodka, is priced at about Rs 300 per bottle. “We expect Romanov Red will push the total vodka share of market for us by 15-20 per cent,” Mr Shyam said. He said the company plans to increase its marketing spends by 25 per cent to leverage this emerging segment and ramp up its vodka portfolio. United Spirits dominates the vodka market mainly in the regular segment (Rs 180 to Rs 200), with more than 75 per cent share through its brands such as White Mischief and Romanov.

United Spirits has a portfolio of more than 140 brands, of which 17 are millionaire brands (those that sell more than a million cases per annum), and has manufacturing and bottling units in 67 locations across the country.