THERE’S A NEW KID IN TOWN

While he’s not exactly new, Vijay Mallya is making more headway in the alcohol beverage industry, with his company United Spirits (USL) ranking as the third largest spirits company in the world by volume behind Diageo and Pernod Ricard.

Mallya is set to end 2006 with over 10% share. USL has seen robust double-digit growth and is currently sitting on a 20% volume jump in the first half of fiscal 2007. On an annualized basis, USL is expected to end the current financial year with 65 million cases (of 9 litre each), up from 55 million cases in the previous year. In just over a decade, USL has added a jaw-dropping 50 million cases to its fund. Just to give you an idea, USL wasn’t looking near as good in 1994 when its market share stood at 2.8% with volume depletions of about 16 million cases.

Most of USL’s volume comes from the Indian market since its brand portfolio is largely regional. However, this could soon change as Mallya is in the race to acquire Scotch maker Whyte & Mackay, which will give him a firm footing in the scotch whisky industry apart from adding about 6-8 million cases to the annualized sales.