Britain and India’s shared loves of cricket, curry and tea have been rivalled by another joint passion as the subcontinent imported 219 million bottles of whisky last year.
The figure, released by the Scotch Whisky Association, shows that India knocked France of the top spot for imports by volume. While France increased imports by 17 per cent, to 205 million bottles, that was dwarfed by a 60 per cent rise in demand from India. The record sales came despite India charging a tariff of 150 per cent on imports, which could be cut under plans for a free-trade deal. The rise in demand was fuelled by a taste for Scotch among the burgeoning middle classes, for whom good whisky is a status symbol.
The association has not broken down India’s figures by type for 2022 but data for previous years show that the country has a strong appetite for the cheapest bottled blends and “bulk blends” that are imported to be bottled in India. The country is also climbing the rankings for sales by value, spending £282 million on Scotch imports, placing it fifth behind America, France, Singapore and Taiwan. China was sixth.
Asia-Pacific countries spent a combined £1.8 billion on Scotch, putting the region ahead of the European Union. EU countries spent £1.6 billion. Mark Kent, chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association, said: “India is the industry’s number one trade priority.” He added: “By reducing the tari through the UK-India trade deal, we can export even more Scotch.”
