Now the world’s most populous country, with a median age of 28 deliver around 15 to 20 million legal drinking age (LDA) prospects per year Between 2021 and 2031, the country is expected to add 283 million more middle-class consumers (source: ICE 360 data). According to 2024 ISWR data, the size of India’s entire alcobev industry is 736 million 9 litre cases. Nearly 2/3 of the overall market is controlled by brown spirits such as whisky rum and brandy.
Indian single malts have around a 50 per cent segment share of the domestic single malt consumption, leading to an improved export foot towards developed countries in the coming years. Six of the top 10 growing spirits brands are from India. India is no longer about volumes, when it comes to alcohol beverage sales.
It has made significant strides in value too. Among the global market contributors, India now ranks 5th at 3.1 per cent market share after China (21 per cent), the US (17.
6 per cent), Japan (7.6 per cent) and Britain (4 per cent), says Nita Kapoor, CEO, International Spirits and Wines Association of India, In 2022 alone, the spirits industry injected an astonishing $730 billion into global GDP while supporting 36 million jobs, equivalent to the entire workforce of the United Kingdom. Indian consumers have long been drawn to the aspirational status of imported products, such as Scotch whisky, but they are also increasingly taking pride in the rising quality levels of domestic spirits, some of which now rival imports.