Bacardi, known for its flagship rum of the same name, Grey Goose vodka and Bombay Sapphire gin among other labels, has stepped up its investment in India amid a premiumisation wave in alcoholic beverages.
India has been identified as Bacardi’s top-five growth markets, Vinay Golikeri, managing director, Bacardi India and neighbouring countries, told FE.
“Our investment has increased by 60% in manufacturing, marketing and distribution over the last few years. We will continue the momentum as India remains a key growth market, where we have doubled our business between 2019 and 2023,” Golikeri, who took over as MD of Bacardi India in January 2023, said.
While Golikeri did not specify financial numbers, he said the India unit was on track to deliver the 5x (five times) business growth target it had set for itself to achieve within a decade in 2019.
Among the priorities for Bacardi in the first half of calendar year 2025 will be to promote and expand some of its recent launches — including made-in-India whisky label Legacy, Irish whisky brand Teeling, tequila brand Patron El Cielo, and vodka brand Grey Goose Altius.
The second half of the year may see Bacardi, which is the world’s largest privately held, family-owned spirits company, focus on getting some of its new brands and variants into the country.
Besides Mexico, India is the second emerging market that Bacardi is betting on, Golikeri said, driven by its economic growth, a young base of consumers, and a strong cocktail culture. “India adds almost 20 million consumers annually into the legal age for drinking. Plus, the proportion of the upper middle class and higher-income households is slated to grow from around 70 million now to 170 million by 2030 as affluence increases. And people want to drink better quality products,” Golikeri said.
Bacardi, which has a ready-to-drink portfolio (Bacardi Breezer/Bacardi Plus) in the Rs 150-160 price point (for 275-ml bottles) and a premium portfolio starting at Rs 1,500-1,600 for 750-ml bottles (called quarts), is not keen to target the mid-market segment, that is, products priced at Rs 700-900 a quart. This is a sweet spot for popular liquor brands such as Officer’s Choice, McDowell’s No 1 and Imperial Blue among others in India. This segment contributes to over 30-40% of liquor market volumes in the country and is also a crowded space, sector experts said, as urban consumers find this range reasonably priced.
Golikeri said that Bacardi’s portfolio lends itself to premiumisation and that the company would like to keep its focus on premium and above labels. “We don’t want to play in the belly of the market. That is not where our attention is and we are not looking to launch products in the mid-market segment,” he added.
While the company has its own plant in Nanjangud, Mysuru, Karnataka, it has 10 co-packers across the country. Golikeri said the manufacturing footprint will increase in the future as the premiumisation trend gathers pace in India.
Bacardi is also increasing its promotional activities in the country, including tying up with bars and pubs across major metros and cities and curating its own music festival called Casa Bacardi.