The Hindu Business Line : Radico Khaitan to raise toast in Africa

LIQUOR major Radico Khaitan is all set to begin bottling of its brands in Africa. Says Mr Lalit Khaitan, Managing Director, Radico Khaitan, "We have tied up with a local player there for bottling our brands. The tie-up will require us to augment the bottling plant technically and match up to our production standards. We will also be marketing our brand aggressively in the region."

Initially, bottling will only be for the 8PM brand of whisky. However, the company will also begin bottling for Contessa rum at a later stage. Production for the brands is expected to start within the next 3-4 months. Explaining the reason behind beginning production in the region, Mr Khaitan says, "Since the duties are very high in the region, exporting did not make much sense, primarily because the prices were very high and the margins got eroded as well."

Meanwhile, Radico Khaitan has high hopes from the region. "Although, beer consumption is very high in Africa, whisky is now growing at a very quick pace and an increasing number of people are switching over to whisky. We are hoping to take advantage of this by providing a quality product in the segment, since currently locally produced whisky in the region is of poor quality," he adds.

Radico Khaitan plans to focus on brand building activities once production is underway. Other than Africa, the company is also studying other markets for similar tie-ups.

At home, Radico Khaitan is set to introduce premium wines through the retail segment soon. The company is already the country business partner of Ernest & Julio Gallo (manufacturers of the world's largest-selling wine Carlo Rossi). "The brands will be launched in major markets in April this year,'' says Mr Khaitan. Although, the current wine consumption in the country is merely 350,000-400,000 cases a year, consumption is picking up mainly on account of new segments such as women and the youth. In addition, the company is hoping that its wines will perform well keeping in mind the high brand equity of Ernest & Julio Gallo wines.

Other key brands in Radico's portfolio include 8PM, Contessa, Whitefield (recently acquired from Alembic), Masti, Jhoom (both country liquor brands) among others.

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