Radico Khaitan eyes ₹500 cr sales from luxury brands

Radico Khaitan is expecting a sale of ₹500 crore from its luxury brands, including single malt ‘Rampur’ and Jaisalmer Indian Craft Gin, in the next fiscal year, its Managing Director Abhishek Khaitan said. The company expects an 8-9 percent volume growth and value growth of around 12-15 percent.

“Our premium PNA category (Prestige & above) should grow more than 15 percent and we should be close to overall double-digit growth,” Abhishek told news agency PTI.

Radico Khaitan’s luxury portfolio consists of Rampur Indian Single Malt, Jaisalmer Indian Craft Gin, Sangam World Malt and Spirit of Victory 1999 Pure Malt. It also owns other premium brands in the PNA category, including Royal Ranthambore, Dazzle Vodka, and Morpheus Blue.

“For the first time in Q3 (December quarter), we achieved a turnover of ₹100 crore (from premium), and for the nine months of FY24, we have achieved ₹250 crore (turnover). We are very confident that for FY26, Radico Khaitan should achieve ₹500 crore of turnover just for the luxury segment,” said Abhishek.

Moreover, to expand its presence in the fast-growing luxury alcobev segment, Radico Khaitan plans to add two more brands in the next fiscal year. “In the first half, we are planning to come out with two more brands in the luxury space. We have been working for the last couple of years on that, and hopefully in the first half, we will see their entry into the Indian markets,” Abhishek said.

Besides, Radico Khaitan expects to continue its growth from the Defence Ministry Canteen Stores Department (CSD), where it is one of the largest providers of branded IMFL to the armed forces. “In Radico, we are very clear that our focus is on the PNA category. However, we are also present in the mass category where our contributions are good. We achieved a 15 percent volume growth in Q3,” informed Abhishek.

In the December quarter, Radico Khaitan reported a 27 percent increase in its consolidated net profit to ₹95.48 crore and an 8 percent rise in revenue from operations to ₹4,440.90 crore. Radico Khaitan’s Prestige & Above brands volume was up 17.7 percent to 3.67 million cases, accounting for 50.9 percent of the IMFL volumes.

Moreover, Radico Khaitan expects the IMFL business to get a boost from the new liquor retail policies of some states, such as Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, which have led to an increase in retail outlets.

Over the capex, Abhishek said it has already invested ₹750 crore to set up a new greenfield distillery at Sitapur and is expanding the capacity of its existing Rampur distillery. “We are done with our capex... there will be normal maintenance capex going forward,” he said.

When it comes to the government’s decision to slash import duty on bourbon whiskey to 50 percent, Abhishek remains unfazed, saying it is very “minuscule” in size in the Indian liquor market and “that would not have so much pressure on the local companies.” However, over the ongoing talks for the UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), he said, the current duty of 150 percent on Scotch whisky should be reduced in a gradual manner. It will allow Indian brands to create space for them in the premium segment. “Our single malts are now outperforming the foreign single malts also,” he said, adding that a duty cut on the import of bulk whisky (non-branded) from Scotland by the Indian liquor companies, including Radico Khaitan, will help them reduce costs.