India's vodka consumption declined three per cent last calendar — first fall in more than a decade, suggesting the odourless spirit's waning honeymoon with the youth, according to a TOI report.
Broader lifestyle changes of the urban middle class have prompted the young consumers to experiment with drinks or cocktails that are not just vodka-based. Fresh tipplers — those entering the legal age of drinking — drove vodka's 30 per cent annual growth in the last decade.
Drinks giant Diageo Plc, in the latest annual report, cautioned about India's slipping vodka sales after Smirnoff declined about 10% in 2012. The recently released International Wine and Spirits Report (IWSR) numbers showed most leading Indian vodkas posting double digit declines last year.
The overall domestic vodka sales stood at 7.84 million cases (of nine litres each) dropping from 8.05 million cases in 2011.
"The youth had patronised vodka, be shots or cocktails, but now they have shifted to other categories," said Deepak Roy, Executive Vice Chairman and MD, Allied Blenders & Distillers (ABD). "Vodka had been a preferred spirit by the youth as it could be camouflaged well. Today, drinking is not much a taboo, hence you see more experimentation and shifts to other spirits and alcoholic beverages," added Roy.
United Spirits' White Mischief and Romanov vodkas, which together have a 50 per cent market share in value segment, saw volumes decline by 11 per cent each. Radico Khaitan's Magic Moments, another significant player in the same price bracket, saw growth sobering to eight per cent compared to almost 23 per cent compounded rise in the past four years.
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