On Wednesday, the Indian alcoholic beverage industry emphasized the importance of implementing a Geographical Indication (GI) tagging approach for food and beverage products at the state level. This strategy is seen as instrumental in enhancing price realization in international markets.
Nita Kapoor, Chief Executive Officer of the International Spirits and Wines Association of India, projected a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of approximately six percent for the alcobev industry. She anticipates that this growth will propel the industry from its current size of USD 51.7 billion to USD 63 billion over the next five years.
She spoke with PTI during a session focused on ‘Agriculture and Allied Including Blue Economy’ held at the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS).
Additionally, she advocated for partnerships with major fruit-producing nations in Europe and former USSR countries to enhance the production of low-alcohol content fruit-based products in the alcobev sector.
“The GI tagging is important as it provides a distinct advantage. For example, Scotch, Champagne and Cognac are a few successful GI tag categories. The key strategic issue is to consider some number of GI-tagged products in the export basket for the state of West Bengal,” Kapoor said.
She highlighted that Europe boasts over 5000 Geographical Indication (GI)-tagged products, whereas India currently has fewer than 500 functional GI tags.
“GI tag requires a complete ecosystem that a state needs to develop. A private entity or a corporate can work within this ecosystem. It has to come from the state. We are talking to state governments for GI-tagging of products, including beverages, fruits and grains used as the raw material for the industry.
“More GI tagging of products will help get better prices in export markets,” Kapoor said.
She mentioned that the overall export of the alcobev industry currently stands at INR 1500-1600 crore.
The alcobev sector constitutes two percent of India’s nominal GDP and provides employment for 7-8 million individuals, encompassing six lakh farmers engaged in the cultivation of grains and sugarcane essential as raw materials for the industry.
Globally, India stands as the second-largest player in the spirits industry, while it holds the fifth position in the broader alcobev sector.
The leading states for the production of extra neutral alcohol (ENA), the foundational component for spirit manufacturing, are UP, Maharashtra, and Karnataka.
“West Bengal, Telangana and Rajasthan contribute roughly 3-4 per cent of supplies of grain-based ENA. There is an opportunity to seriously consider ENA distilleries in Bengal,” she added.