Amrut Distilleries Pvt Ltd, best known for its namesake single malt whisky, is making a bold bet on rum with the recent launch of what it calls the world’s first single-jaggery rum.
The 75-year-old company has been expanding its domestic footprint steadily, with its whiskies now being sold over 20 states. The company expects to close its gross revenue at ₹550 crore this year (excluding duties which account for another ₹1,300 crore), growing 14% over last year’s ₹480 crore.
“Projections for the next fiscal also suggest that we should be growing at a CAGR of 10% at least,” joint managing director Thrivikram G. Nikam told Mint.
The company began producing its single malt whiskies in 2004, when demand in India was low. At the time, it began to export its variants or “expressions” to overseas markets. Prior to this, the company was largely focused on making sugarcane-based MaQintosh premium whisky.
It has whiskies ranging from the value segment to the premium and super premium variants. A majority of its whisky sales volumes come from the economy segment, which sells primarily in Karnataka and Kerala and is priced at ₹500 to ₹1,000 a bottle.
The company’s premium whisky and single malts are available across 23 states in India. It has about 50 variants across its entire portfolio including brandy, gin, rum and vodka.
Rationing single malts
“Today, Karnataka and most of north India are reflecting strong growth in our single malt sales. We are still rationing our single malts because of the spirit stores still being limited. Next four to five years, we will focus on our premium portfolio. This year we are going to launch more premium variants of rum and whisky. Some of these spirits would be a first of their kind,” Nikam said.
Whisky contributes 68% in terms of volumes and about 75% in terms of turnover. The company sells about 5-6 million cases annually or upwards of 500,000 cases a month across various categories. A case typically contains nine litres or 12 bottles.
A little over a third of this business comes from rum, said Nikam. Single and blended malts account for a much smaller 120,000 cases annually.
“Single malts need to be matured for around five years. This requires a lot of capacity, and the focus of our new capacity will largely be to cater to premium spirits that need more maturation time,” he added.
India sold about 675,000 cases of single malt whisky in 2023, marking a 16% increase from the previous year, according to the most recent data from the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies. Domestic brands accounted for over half of this total.
Many spirit makers with a portfolio of premium and super premium liquor are now focused on producing high-end variants because input costs in the economy segment are rising, and profit margins are shrinking. Amrut competes with Paul John, Indri, Rampur and GianChand, among others, all of which have tasted success after they started to produce premium spirits.
Betting big on rum
Amrut makes various types of rums under two brands – Two Indies, which it launched in 2012-13, and Old Port. The newest is Bella, a single-jaggery rum or one that is made from 100% jaggery.
“Traditionally, rums are made from molasses and cane juice. We have now launched our jaggery rum, which has been matured for six years. This is the world’s first such product,” Nikam said.
Similar to single-malt maturation, which happens faster in India, rum matures faster too, Nikam said. One year of maturation in India would be equivalent to 3-4 years in Scotland.
“We plan to add another rum to our portfolio, which we are working on and intend to take our entire rum portfolio to upwards of 22 states,” he said. “The demand for premium and high-end spirits is still quite high… In the next two months, our capacity will increase from 1 million litres in our production unit to 1.2-1.4 million litres to cater to the additional demand for premium products.”
All of the company’s spirits are produced in Karnataka.
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