Global drinks player targets buoyant Indian market

The US firm last week launched the product, available in three fruit flavours, cranberry, lime and mango, that will retail from €25 (Rs 1,400) for a litre bottle. The Indian branded food and drinks market grew last year by over 5 per cent, according to recent figures from ACNielsen, outpacing the global average growth rate of 4 per cent. Supporting this buoyant overall trend, growth rates for individual product categories within the Indian market too, reflect aggressive performances within the similar period. "If one looks specifically at the categories present in India, which can be compared with what is available on retail shelves across the globe, it is clearly a case of aggregates camouflaging the scorching growth rates experienced by individual product categories" says Sujit Das Munshi, executive director for retail measurement services, ACNielsen South Asia. Young, urban professionals are the target audience for Brown Forman's Finlandia brand, said the US drinks firm, that claimed growth for the Indian vodka market is currently hitting high double digit figures of 25-30 per cent. Brown Forman, the Louisville-based firm behind Jack Daniel's and Southern Comfort, is part of a consortium of drinks businesses led by Constellation Brands that have made a bid for the UK's Allied Domecq. According to a Financial Times report today, the consortium is considering launching a bid to rival Pernod's offer for Allied, initially valued at £7.4bn ($13.7bn). The consortium is understood to have made an indicative proposal in cash valuing Allied at some £7.7bn, or about 700p per share. To pay for Allied, Constellation would need to raise about $11bn in the capital markets.

Global drinks player targets buoyant Indian market

International drinks supplier Brown-Forman embarks on new opportunities in the increasingly affluent Indian society, targeting the beverages market with the launch of its fruit flavoured Finlandia brand of 'luxury' vodka.

Related Topics