Success Of Indian Spirits Holds A Larger Lesson For ‘Make In India’

Surrinder Kumar looks and sounds like he works with an IT major in Bengaluru, possibly in a senior position. He hails from Kashmir but speaks English with a slightly clipped south Indian accent, presumably because he studied and lived in and around Bengaluru and Mysuru for several decades. Except that he works for a different kind of export powerhouse: alcohol, more specifically whiskey.

He is a master distiller and the man behind two major global Indian brands Amrut and Indri, both single malt brands that have won a bevy of global awards, taking Indian spirits on the global stage.

It is often said that India’s IT industry grew not because of the government but in spite of it. Writing software code did not require the litany of permissions or factory inspections as you would in setting up a manufacturing plant. Or the hurdles of transporting goods through challenging roads and a notoriously slow shipment process. Before you knew it, the Indian IT industry was turning in billions of dollars of revenue and then the Y2K moment arrived in 2000. And the rest is history and is still playing out.

Something similar has happened with India’s spirits industry, though with many more physical restrictions. Go to a party in India and people would rather sip Indian or more specifically Goan gins than the classic British brands. When it comes to whiskey, people ask for Amrut, Paul John or Indri, both in India and overseas. NRIs seem to like Indri and Amrut because it is Indian and it is good. While this is a strong ‘Make in India’ story, the government did not play much of a role in it.

Entrepreneurs have figured out that conditions in India are actually good for making world-class spirits. Surinder Kumar says in the northern plains of India, where Indri is matured, temperatures oscillate between 0 degrees Celsius in winter and 50 degrees Celsius in summer, with just two months of rain and 10 months of dry weather. This extreme temperature difference makes the pores of the wood open up and contract exponentially, making the interaction between wood and the whisky much more pronounced, thereby imparting far more flavour to the liquid in a short period. “In maturation, you have to apply the rule of three, that is one year in India is equal to three years in Scotland,” he told Forbes India.

It's a similar story with gin. Stranger & Sons from Goa was ranked in the top eight gins in the world with a Gold Outstanding Medal at the International Wine & Spirit Competition 2020. Hapusa won the Gold at the International Wines & Spirits Competition 2021 and Jaisalmer won a Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2023. Tamras Gin won gold at San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2022.

Understandably, you are not likely to see gin or whiskey entrepreneurs sharing the stage with the kind of entrepreneurs (mostly tech) feted at various media house award ceremonies, except for maybe a beer company or two. Nor will you see ministers in any government consorting with them, again understandably.

However, the success of Indian spirits holds a larger lesson. First, in our quest to be a product nation, we must remember that these are equally globally recognised and awarded products made in India. Moreover, not only are exports booming but overseas spirits majors are trying to replicate the Indian style.

The International Spirits and Wines Association of India said exports have seen a big surge, with a 16% increase in volume and a 20% increase in value in the past year. The industry, which is overall worth close to $52 billion, employs almost 8 million individuals, directly or indirectly. Moreover, the success of these brands also reflects the strength of R&D in India’s spirits industry. You can’t be creating strong brands like these unless you have good R&D here, in Haryana or Goa. Remember R&D is a holy grail of sorts for India’s manufacturing industry.

Surrinder Kumar studied food technology at the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) in Mysuru which is widely recognised as a premier institution for food technology in Southeast Asia. In another interview, he talked of how he joined a company called Central Distilleries, now part of United Spirits, as part of a campus interview. He also said the CFTRI gave him an extensive knowledge base and a range of skills in beverage production.

It struck me, with 23 IITs and 21 IIMs, surely we could set up another CFTRI which produces and nurtures world class R&D in food and beverages, areas where Indians are clearly excelling.