Heady news, it certainly isn't.
A new report says that India is showing a growing appetite for alcoholic beverages (alcobev) at a time when China, the US, the UK, Germany, Japan, France and Italy are turning away from these intoxicants.
IWSR, a global authority on alcobev data and insights, reports that among the top ten alcobev-consuming countries, only Mexico, and Brazil along with India are defying the global downturn in alcobev consumption.
India ending up as an outlier with a growing appetite for alcobev is driven by a few factors.
Some experts suggest that a "peak alcohol" phenomenon, similar to "peak oil", might be occurring in the mature economies and this might be fuelling the drop in consumption there. Younger generations in these countries are opting for less frequent drinking or abstaining altogether due to increasing health awareness.
Reports indicate a significant decrease in global per-capita alcohol consumption -- from 5 litres of pure alcohol per adult annually in 2013 to 3.9 litres in 2023.
Considering demographic shifts, data suggests that total global alcohol consumption reached its peak in 2016 at 25.4 billion litres and has since fallen by approximately 13%.
In contrast, India's alcoholic beverage market presents substantial growth potential due to its currently low per-capita consumption, favourable demographic trends, and an expanding drinking population, the report says.
Another industry report notes that India's recorded per-capita consumption of pure alcohol has risen from 1.3 litres in 2005 to an estimated 3.1 litres in 2022, although that remained below the global average.
According to IWSR data, India's alcobev volume registered a 2% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2018 and 2023, mirroring the growth rates of Brazil and Mexico.
Interestingly, India's year-over-year (Y-O-Y) growth in alcobev volume accelerated to 5% in 2022-2023, surpassing its 2018-2023 CAGR. Provisional data for 2024 points to a continued, albeit slightly slower, Y-O-Y growth of 2% in India's total alcobev volume for 2023-2024.
Moreover, the agency forecasts alcobev volume to double during the 2023-2028 period to CAGR of 4%.
IWSR attributes this expanding market in India to the rise of "numerous local players operating at the value- and low-priced end of the market – and even, in some cases, entities that were previously outside the formal alcohol market with country liquor – now offering credible, premium-quality, and affordably priced spirits".
This report comes at a time when a recent bilateral trade treaty between India and the UK that could lead to a reduction in the landed cost of Scotch whisky in the country.
In 2022, the Indian alcobev market size was approximately 3.1 billion litres of pure alcohol, with distilled beverages accounting for about 92% of this.The report concludes that India's low per capita consumption, favorable demographics, and a growing drinking population present significant future growth potential for the alcoholic beverage market.
Basically a brown spirits market, the country already holds the crown as the largest whisky consumer in the world and a leading producer of single malt whisky.