Daybreak - The rest of the world is cutting back on alcohol. India just doubled its consumption

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

India is drinking more — and spending more when it does. Between 2020 and 2025, alcohol consumption nearly doubled. Post-Covid, drinkers didn't just drink more; they upgraded. Four bottles where there used to be one. Home bars where there used to be none. Global brands that once ignored India are now flooding distributors with enquiry emails. But the opportunity comes wrapped in one of the most complicated regulatory systems in the world — 69 permits for a single brand in some states, margins so thin most retailers stock only five or six labels. India is still a teenager. The hangover hasn't hit yet.Tune in.

Hi, this is Rohan Dharma Kumar. If you've heard any of the Ken's podcasts, you've probably heard me, my interruptions, my analogies, and my contrarian takes on most topics. And you might rightly be wondering why am I interrupting this episode too? It's for a special announcement. For the last few months, I and Sita Ramon, Ganesh, my colleague and the Ken's deputy editor, have been working on an ambitious new podcast. It's called Intermission.

We want to tell the secret sauce stories of India's greatest companies. Stories of how they were born, how they fought to survive, how they build their organizations and culture, how they manage to innovate and thrive over decades, and most importantly, how they're poised today. To do that, Sita and I have been reading books, poring over reports, going through financial statements, digging up archives, and talking to dozens of people. And if that wasn't enough, we also decided to throw in video into the mix. Yes, you heard that right. Intermission has also had to find its footing in the world of multi-camera shoots in professional studios, laborious editing, and extensive post-production. Sita and I are still reeling from the intensity of our first studio recording.

Intermission launches on March 23rd. To get alert, as soon as we release our first video. episode, please follow intermission on Spotify and Apple Podcasts or subscribe to the Ken's YouTube channel. You can find all of the links at the ken.com slash I am. With that, back to your episode. The West has a drinking problem, but not the kind you'd expect. Alcohol consumption in the US and Western Europe has either flattened or declined. It has been squeezed between an aging population and a younger one that is rethinking drinking. Over half the drinkers aged 18 to 24 in Germany want to learn about mindful drinking. In the UK, over a third worry about alcohol's impact

on their emotional well-being. But a few thousand miles away, it's a different story. India is buying more alcohol. Between 2020 and 2025, Euro Monitor, a market research firm, reported that alcohol consumption in India rose by nearly two times. It was growing at a compounded annual rate of nearly 14% to reach 7,500 million liters. Even as some Indian youth are reportedly drinking less, industry veterans dismiss it as a minor trend. Summer Singh-Shikwath, an Alcobev consultant, told my colleague, the Ken reporter Akriti Bhalla, that it's something that's limited to a small cohort of younger, educated, affluent metro consumers. The thing is, the broader market is expanding while also driving investment decisions.

And India is increasingly becoming central to multinational brands global expansion. For instance, earlier this year, Suffley Malt, a French Malt producer, announced plans for a 100 million euro or almost $120 million plant in Rajasthan. The company is betting on India's growing beer and spirits demand, even as it reported in, shuts factories in Germany and the UK. Ankur Satchewa, the CEO of a Delhi-based premium Alcobev firm called Upao Brewers and Distillers, claims that the big change happened post-COVID. He noted that home consumption rose rapidly and people upgraded what they drank. And that resulted in many large companies recording double-digit growth.

Radico Kheightan, which sells AlcoBev brands such as 8pm and college students go-to magic moments saw its sales more than double to over 5,000 crore rupees in five years. Now, Such Deva from Opal Brewers, believes that this rising consumption has also created the demand and expectation for a better product at every price point. And this kind of demand upgrade has happened across the country, not just in mega cities like Mumbai or Delhi. In rural areas, low-income consumers opt for stronger spirits like whiskey that offer more alcohol per rupee than beer. In cities, wealthier drinkers are reaching for imported whiskey, gin and craft beer more often than their parents ever did.

Distributors say that even pure two towns like Traj Raj in Uttar Pradesh are showing similar behaviors. Which means India is charting a different course than its global peers in alcohol consumption. And not simply because demand is rising, but because of the way alcohol is bought, sold and. and packs cure. Welcome to Daybreak, a business podcast from The Ken. I'm your host, Rachel Regis, and every day of the week, my co-host, Nipa Sharma and I will bring you one new story that is worth understanding and worth your time. Today is Tuesday, the 17th of March.

India's alcohol story is unfolding at retail counters. Customers walking into liquor stores today often leave with three or four bottles. The bottles range from mid to premium, like whiskey, gin and vodka. Kunal Patel of Monica Alcobev, a pan-India importer and distributor, said that customers' average basket now ranges between rupees 5,000 and rupees 8,000. Pre-COVID, they typically picked up just one bottle. He told Akriti that what's happening now is that basically, drinkers are now out of the closet because it's a lot more socially accepted.

Even drinking at home has kind of become a social fashion. So consumers are not just buying alcohol for immediately. consumption. They're even buying it to build home bars. And this kind of a behavioral shift has turned India into one of the most promising alcohol markets in the world. In fact, while the Scotch whiskey market recorded its third consecutive year of decline globally in 2025, in India, United Spirits reported over 8% growth in its prestige and above segment in the December quarter alone. United Spirits, by the way, is the company that distributes product from Diageo, which is the maker of Johnny Walker, and this prestige and above segment,

which basically just means products that are priced higher than the average or regular segments, is now 90% of the company's revenue. And besides Johnny Walker, which is a 1000 cro rupees brand, by the way, other top sellers from United Spirits include whiskey variants like Black Dog and McDonald's, which are classified as Indian-made foreign liquor or IMFL. India's drinking pattern explains that momentum that United Spirits is seen. Unlike Western markets where beer accounts for about 60 to 80% of sales, brown spirits like whiskey and rum dominate the shells here in India. That doesn't mean that white spirits are lagging bad behind though.

Their popularity is also on the rise. Smaller, homegrown brands like Stranger and Sons, for example, began Indianizing gin with fruit flavors in 2021. Once larger companies caught on, they adopted and scaled this trend as well. Take companies like DiGio and Radico Ghaithan, which launched their own flavored water cards in 2025 and those have quickly become among the fastest selling products at liquor stores. This kind of premiumization in India's liquor market is also exactly what is drawing global brands.

The thing is, a few years ago, back in 2016 and 17, getting international labels into India took a lot of effort. But today, that has changed drastically. Now, global brands are approaching Indian distributors directly. Patil told us that India is a top priority for these brands. And Monica Alcobev now receives 15 to 20 inquiry emails a day from international brands. And even in states with low per capita alcohol spending, the premium push is very visible. For example, Uttar Pradesh averages just.

was rupees 50% annually on alcohol, while its neighbour Haryana averages about rupees 800. And even though Uttar Pradesh may not seem like the most ideal ground for premium drinks, it's actually one of the strongest markets for beverages above 15% alcohol by volume. That's what Anand Gupta, the founder of Bored Beverages, which is a new age Arcobev firm, realized in 2021 when he set out to sell Mead, which is a honey-based alcoholic drink.

He found that it was because well, a typical college-going youngster in the state is more likely to choose alcohol that hits harder at a lower cost. Now, that's just one of the many sub-trends that have emerged in India. But two main pockets

stand out the most. The first is made up of lower-income consumers, who are largely from rural areas, who prefer spirits over beer. Sakeet Somani, a senior vice president at Radical Kheightan, said that rising internet penetration and social media exposure has made consumers in smaller towns almost as informed and brand-aware as their urban counterparts. Because the company is one of the country's oldest IMFL makers, they are seeing this pocket contribute strongly to their growth across their flagship

luxury and super premium portfolios. Now, the second group is mainly higher-income urban consumers who are drinking more foreign liquor and beer than country liquor. In fact, their monthly per capita consumption has gone from one-tenth of a liter to nearly a quarter in the same period. And what unites both groups is aspiration. An industry veteran told Akrati that 25 years ago, a youngster would pick rum or whiskey for the bus. But today's drinkers aren't necessarily loyal to a single brand.

They want something premium with social currency, something that shows that they have a good palette. Nishan Sharma, founder of Scotland-based Rosslin Distillery, which sells across the world, believes that this aspiration might actually gradually reshape the hierarchy of brands. Even legacy labels like Johnny Walker may end up feeling pressure as younger drinkers look for products that feel more relatable. Still, even as aspiration increases, access remains tightly underline. control. Stay tuned for the next segment. But before that, Sinkta has something to tell you. Okay, quick break and this one is relevant if you are a data person. You are listening to daybreak, which means that you already know what we are the Ken do. Deeply reported business journalism for

people who want the complete picture. The Ken is hiring an analytics lead and this is not a bill reports for the quarterly review kind of a rule. You would be the person that every team comes to. editorial, product, business, when they need to know what's actually working. You'd be shaping what stories get told, what products get built, and where the company bets its energy next. It is a Bangal-based, full-time job, and honestly, this is a kind of role that does not come around too often. The link is in the show notes. And now, back to Rachel. In markets like the US, UK and even in Asia, specifically in countries like Thailand and China, alcohol is sold both on trade like bars and restaurants and off trade through supermarkets and convenience stores.

Basically, consumers have multiple entries to buy. But India works entirely differently. The company has over 10 million FMCG retail points, but alcohol is sold at only a fraction of those. There is no direct-to-consumer route and sales are limited to licensed liquor stores and on-premise outlets. And that's because the supply chain is very tightly controlled. From the distilleries to warehouses to distributors to retailers, each of these checkpoints may sit in a different state, each with its own alcohol laws. For many states, excise duty is a major revenue source.

The industry veteran I mentioned earlier told us that it contributes 10 to 33% of total state revenue. But there's a downside to being a state subject. because it also creates a complex tangle of licenses and levies. In fact, one needs different licenses to manufacture store and sell beer. In some states like West Bengal, the number of permits can even reach 69 for a single brand. So if you're a retailer selling a bottle that cost rupees 100, after logistics, permits and excise duties, which alone can cost up to rupees 60 plus discounts and marketing,

you might be left with just rupees five, which means most retailers are then forced to prioritize five or six top selling brands. An Alcobev founder told us that that means newer players sometimes pay as much as rupees 20 per

bottle just for shelf space. And while big players can sustain that kind of cost for a year, most startups can't. That's why several new brands that entered around 2021 to 2022 have struggled to scale. The Ken actually wrote about how Beera 91, which was once a craft beer darling, ran into

supply shortages and regulatory tangles. So for companies navigating this web, success means expanding in increments, flavor by flavor, state by state and segment by segment. But despite all of this complexity, the fundamentals are hard to ignore. India has demographic advantage and rising incomes on its side. The country adds roughly two. 12 million people to its working age population every year. And those kinds of numbers reshape a market. In fact, steady demand and premiumization alone are expected to push the Indian alcoholic beverage industries revenue growth to 10 to 12% this fiscal.

And as Patel from Monica Alcobeb put it, if alcohol consumption were a person, India is still reaching its teenage years.