William Grant inks bottling deal with Modi group

The world’s largest family-run scotch whiskey marker, William Grant & Sons, has finalized a local bottling deal with Modi Distilleries, part of the Umesh Modi group, signaling its heightened ambitions in the Indian market.

This would be the 130-year-old scotch giant’s only bottling arrangement outside Scotland currently. William Grant is expected to start rolling out the locally bottled, flagship-blended scotch whiskey brand Grant’s in September this year from Modi’s plant in Uttar Pradesh.

The bottling deal is expected to help William Grantmaker of Monkey Shoulder and single malts Glenfiddich and Balvenie, and also the third-biggest scotch producer after Diageo and Pernod Ricard — to compete more aggressively in the broader domestic liquor market. Grant’s would intensify marketplace battles with Diageo’s Black & White, Pernod Ricard’s 100 Pipers and Beam Suntory’s Teacher’s scotch whiskeys. Bacardi began local bottling of its scotch brand William Lawson recently.

According to IWSR global forecasts, India is expected to be one of the largest contributors to global whiskey growth over the next five years. The blended Scotch market in India is projected to double to five million cases by 2021. “This marks an important next phase of William Grant & Sons in India. The scale of the market for scotch brands bottled in India is 10 times larger than those bottled in Scotland and imported,” William Grant & Sons India MD James Pennefather told TOI.

“Having already established a successful portfolio of imported premium spirits such as Glenfiddich, Monkey Shoulder and Hendricks Gin in India, we decided that this is the right time to enter local production with an established family business, Modi Distilleries,” he added.

Source:-https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/liquor/william-grant-inks-bottling-deal-with-modi-group/articleshow/64504015.cms