India is an attractive liquor market: Matthew Shattock, CEO, Beam

Shattock, who was in New Delhi last week, says he is excited by the opportunity created by growing tendency among Indians to shift to imported brands from local whiskies. He tells ET that Beam India is growing at over 20% and within emerging markets it's the unequivocal No.1, mostly on the strength of its Scotch brand Teacher's. Excerpts:

State taxation, high import tariffs and restrictions on advertising make India a tough spirits market. Why so many multinationals are here?

India has a young population and hence more and more consumers are likely to enter our category. Combined with economic power, this makes India an attractive market. Also there is a huge whiskey market with consumption of over 100 million cases every year. As the consumers' income grows, migration from local to international brands and Scotch presents a huge opportunity. Clearly, there are challenges in the regulatory environment. The opportunity is to manage those complexities better than competition.

Beam India has several brands in its portfolio. But it is still seen as a single-brand company represented by Teacher's Scotch. Why?

One of the strengths of our business is the breadth of our portfolio. That gives us an opportunity, particularly in emerging markets. In India, Scotch is the entry point. We will use Teacher's Scotch and Laphroaig single malt. On the back of that we believe there is an exciting opportunity for Jim Beam and Maker's Mark bourbon as well as Sauza tequila. In China, the entry point is Cognac and therefore it's Courvoisier. We have six priority brands but we use that portfolio according to local needs.

The company appointed a managing director for emerging markets, including India and Brazil, in January. What is the roadmap for India?

India and Brazil over the next 10 years will represent an accelerated level of growth on which we will focus. We are investing significantly in marketing, brand innovations riding on Teacher's Single Malt Highland scotch, and ready-todrink (RTD) Scotch in cans. We will focus on bars, restaurants and tier II and tier III towns. We will also invest in our infrastructure and supply chain and our bottling facility in Rajasthan.

RTD is only around 1.5-million case category synonymous with Bacardi Breezer in India. Why do you think Teacher's Scotch in cans will work?

RTD would bring in new users by giving them a reasonable priced way of trying Scotch. But convenience of RTD also gives us new occasions and channels that we might not reach with our full-strength format. The opportunity for innovation to succeed is when it is done under the umbrella of a well-known brand. That is why we see it as an opportunity to broaden the shoulders of the brand.