While older Indian men still nurse their whiskies, increasing numbers of women and young adults in conservative India are knocking back vodka, sending sales of the tipple soaring.
The love affair with vodka can be traced back to a government decision in 2001 to allow the import of foreign liquor into the country, albeit with high duties.
India has a long history of making rum and gin, but until the arrival of foreign makers, vodka was undistinguished in taste, easy on the wallet -- and brutal on the stomach and head.
A 750ml bottle of Swedish-made Absolut vodka with its host of flavors costs 1,450 rupees (US$31) including the 200 percent tax, but the hefty price tag does not put off India's bold and beautiful.
"You have to be insane to drink Indian vodka -- they tend to have a lot more crap in them that makes your body revolt the next morning. Don't even get me started," said polo player and part-time model Robin Grewal, 32.
"I can die for chilled Grey Goose vodka. I am shameless. I just ask all my friends coming from abroad to get me a bottle. Thank God, Swedish Absolut is now available in India," he said.
Vodka made abroad or in India under license by international firms now accounts for 75 percent of the market, with foreign vodka making inroads into 14 of India's 28 states, industry officials say.
Before liberalization, vodka sales were stuck at 350,000 cases, but last year an estimated 3 million drinkers put down 620,000 cases. Sales for this year are projected at 750,000 cases, industry officials say.
"The vodka market has been expanding at 20 percent each year, which is faster than the Indian liquor industry average of 8 percent," said R. N. Raja, chief operating officer of the South Asian branch of US-based United Distillers and Vintners, which sells Smirnoff.
Siddharth Banerji, director of Kyndal India Pvt Ltd, which distributes Absolut, said vodka sales could grow to 1 million cases if duties were scaled back.
He attributed the decline of India's preference for brown spirits to rapid changes in society.
"In the last decade, drinking has come out of the closet in India with the collapse of the joint-family system," Banerji said, referring to the tradition of the entire extended family living under one roof.
"More men now enjoy a drink
in their own drawing rooms with their wives. And, middle class women and young people with high incomes love vodka," Banerji added.
The trend is evident in urban India's pubs and lounge bars, where anyone over age 35 is as out of place as a whisky drinker.
"When I started running this joint we hardly stocked vodka. Now suddenly I can't do business without it as young people want nothing else," said C. Singh of DV8, a popular weekend hangout in New Delhi.
The choices from imported vodka range from pepper to black currant, taken straight or with mixers of soda or juice.
"Young people always look for something different. The exciting flavors keep them hooked," said R. Sidhu, manager of Delhi's busy Amber bar and restaurant.
In some parts of India where anti-drinking traditions are stronger, vodka is favored for a different reason: Tipplers can pour it discreetly into porcelain cups.
"When I drink vodka people think I am sipping water. It does not smell as foul as whisky or rum so I can fool my mother-in-law, who drops in unannounced," said homemaker Anju Kesarwani.
But India's hip college set has no problems drinking vodka straight and openly.
"It is my poison. I drink vodka at home, when I hang out with my friends and when I party," said Nirmala Gonsalves, a 22-year-old student in Delhi University's law faculty.
"Even when I raid my dad's bar I leave the single malt for him. He gets stunned when he offers me a Scotch whisky and I stick to my vodka," she said.
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about 1,900 as
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
The WHO ignored early COVID-19 warnings from Taiwan, US Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill said on Friday, as part of justification for Washington withdrawing from the global health body. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said that the US was pulling out of the UN agency, as it failed to fulfill its responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO “ignored early COVID warnings from Taiwan in 2019 by pretending Taiwan did not exist, O’Neill wrote on X on Friday, Taiwan time. “It ignored rigorous science and promoted lockdowns.” The US will “continue international coordination on infectious
RSS