Alcoholic beverage maker N V Group is exploring possibilities of manufacturing liquor outside India and has drawn up an aggressive plan to enter markets such as US, Europe as well as China in phased manner to build a half-a-billion dollar company in the next five years. The company is already in the process of setting up a bottling plant in Ghana entailing investments of Rs 2.5-Rs 3 crore to cater to the African market.
“We are already in the process of setting up a bottling plant in Ghana. Today, we export over 20,000 cases a month but it takes more than eight days to reach countries such as Nigeria, Kenya thereby increasing our logistics costs significantly,” said Varun Jain, director, sales and marketing of N V Group, adding the plan is to increase the export basket to 50 per cent, from just 10 per cent now.
In India, the 25-year-old company has four distilleries in Haryana, Punjab and Maharashtra and two bottling plants in Goa, and Chandigarh with an overall production capacity of over three lakh litres per day.
The company has also set up a new bottling plant in Chhattisgarh, which is expected to be up and running in December, Jain added.
While the company has been working on multiple Indian-made-foreign-liquor (IMFL) brands such as Pernod Ricard, Bacardi Martini and Diageo for a while now, it has recently introduced its own Vodka brand in the premium segment.
“The name Smoke was in my mind for the last 10 years. But, finding a unique recipe took time and we finally launched the product in 2019 after three years of research and development,” Jain noted.
“After trying countless recipes, I finally found a recipe that I knew was special. Then, it took a year for trying and testing, for which the test-subjects were my friends and family. We used their feedback to refine our technique only to create an Indian vodka,” Jain further said.
Jain believes Smoke has no competition from any of IMFL vodka brands.
“The most premium Indian vodka sells worth Rs 600 – Rs 800 per bottle mostly catering to the masses. Smoke Vodka from NV, however, is priced in the range of Rs 2,000-Rs 2,500. If at all there is a competition, it will be from premium imported vodkas,” he further said.
The group had first launched Discovery Elite whisky in the semi-premium segment and then introduced its premium whisky called Royal Envy. After having a significant presence in North India, the company also aims to cater to other parts of the country.
The company plans to enter the likes of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Odisha by the end of the current financial year.
All these put together, the company will be investing Rs 300 crore over the next one year. In FY19, the group’s turnover stood at Rs 1,360 crore.
Meanwhile, the Delhi-based liquor manufacturer is also eyeing the canteen stores department (CSD) to market its products for the armed forces.
“It’s a lengthy process. We are in the last stage of getting approval and we will be there (CSD) by April,” Jain said.