India emerges as top importer of Scotch whisky

From Aditi Khanna London, Sep 16 (PTI) India has emerged as one of theworld’s fastest growing Scotch whisky import markets withvalue up by 28 per cent to 43 million pounds, a trade bodysaid today. The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) released the amountof Scotch whisky sold overseas increased for the first timesince 2013, largely thanks to India for registering a massivejump in shipment value. India has established itself as the third-biggest exportmarket for Scotch at 41 million bottles, marking a 41 per centincrease in sales volumes, after France (90.9 million bottles)and the US (53.1 million bottles). "The growth of exports to India stood out, with value up28 per cent to 43 million pounds," the SWA said. The industry body also called on urgent action from theUK government to help realise the full potential of the Indianmarket. "The full potential of the Indian market would only bedelivered through liberalisation of the exorbitant 150 percent basic customs duty. We urge the UK government toprioritise discussions with India as it develops itspost-Brexit pirorities," it added. Diageo, a leading UK-headquartered distilling company,recently took over Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s UnitedSpirits distribution network in India, which is being linkedto the sale of 12 million more bottles than last year. Most of that was in bulk, for bottling in India, orblending with Indian whiskies. However, India also registered a marked rise, by morethan half, in the amount of single malt whisky shipped toIndia, adding up to more than 700,000 bottles. Scotch, a patent of the Scotland, overall had theequivalent of 533 million bottles shipped from the UK in thefirst six months of 2016, marking a 3.1 per cent increase. SWA attributes this to an "industry-wide emphasis oncraftsmanship and provenance, backed by investment". PTI AKAMS AKJAMS