French Are Making Premium Indian Liquors Now: Pernod Ricard Five New Bottles

A French beverage giant is launching five premium spirits, all made entirely in India, all under ₹1,000. That's exactly what Pernod Ricard did with Seagram's Xclamat!on, and it's raising some interesting questions about where India's alcohol market is heading.

The Obvious Play (That's Actually Pretty Smart)

On the surface, this looks straightforward: Whisky, vodka, gin, rum, brandy, one brand, five bottles, consistent pricing. But dig a little deeper, and you'll notice what Pernod Ricard is really doing: they're testing whether Indian consumers are ready to choose local over imported when it comes to premium booze.

Because let's be honest, "Made in India" hasn't exactly been a selling point for spirits. Until now, maybe.

What's Actually Inside These Bottles?

Five Spirits That Are More Indian Than They Sound. Take the whisky: it uses Speyside Scotch malts but finishes with Indian grain spirits. The brandy blends Indian grapes with French ones. The rum mixes Indian jaggery with Jamaican aged spirit.

Notice the pattern? Every bottle is designed to give you the "international" credentials (Scotch! French oak! Jamaican rum!) while being fundamentally Indian. It's premiumization with training wheels, or maybe it's just smart marketing for a country that's still figuring out its relationship with homegrown luxury.

The Delhi Problem (And Karnataka, and Maharashtra...)

Here's where it gets interesting. Pernod Ricard is launching in Haryana, UP, Goa, Rajasthan, and Daman first. Sounds random, right?

But they are not able to launch in Delhi (their license got suspended in 2022), Karnataka (the highest excise duty in India), and Maharashtra (excise duties jumped in June 2025).

The company's being transparent about it, but reading between the lines: India's alcohol regulations are still a minefield, even for global giants with deep pockets.

Is This Actually About Gen Z?

Pernod Ricard keeps talking about "next-gen consumers" and "mixed-gender social occasions." Translation: they've noticed that younger Indians drink differently than their parents did.

Less whisky-and-soda at stuffy clubs, more cocktails at house parties. Less brand loyalty based on what Dad drank, more experimentation. And crucially, less shame about buying Indian-made products.

The glow-in-the-dark labels? The bright colors? That's not for your typical Royal Challenge drinker. That's Instagram bait.

Why Pernod Ricard Is Betting Big?

CEO Jean Touboul said Xclamat!on should contribute 10% of the company's growth over the next decade. That's not a modest prediction: that's betting the farm.

It suggests Pernod Ricard believes India's premiumization trend isn't just real, it's accelerating. The data backs them up: 8% growth in premium categories in early 2025, India on track to become the world's fifth-largest alcohol market by 2033.

But here's the question: Are they banking on India's middle class expanding, or on existing consumers trading up? Because those are two very different growth stories with very different risks.

From "Made For India" to "Made In India

The real story isn't five new spirits. It's what happens when multinational alcohol companies stop treating India as a market to export to and start treating it as a market to manufacture for.

Pernod Ricard designed, conceptualized, and produced Xclamat!on entirely in India. That's not just cost optimization: that's a fundamental shift in strategy. If this works, expect every other alcohol company to follow suit.

And if it doesn't? Well, we'll have learned something important about whether Indian consumers are actually ready to pay premium prices for Indian-made spirits, or if that "Aatmanirbhar Bharat" pride only goes so far when you're at the bar.

The Last Sip

If you're a consumer, you're about to have more premium choices under ₹1,000. That's unambiguously good.

If you're in the industry, you're watching to see if Pernod Ricard just cracked the code on Indian premiumization, or if they're about to learn an expensive lesson about why everyone else has been playing it safe.

Either way, those glow-in-the-dark bottles are going to be hard to miss on store shelves. And that might be the whole point.