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McDowell’s No.1, the iconic brand from United Spirits Limited (USL), has clocked retail sales worth Rs 20,504 crore ($3.8 billion) in 2012-13. The sales came from nearly half a billion 750 ML bottles of its Whisky, Rum and Brandy franchise.
The portfolio doubled in retail valuation in merely four years.
"Translating into a whopping 1,677 million units across all flavors (whisky, rum and brandy) and pack sizes and 431.1 million litres of alco bev liquid, McDowell’s No.1 is now the largest alco bev franchise in India by volume and value, and the largest FMCG brand by retail value far ahead of Amul," the company said in a statement.
Ashok Capoor, President and Managing Director, United Spirits Limited, said, “Never before has any brand achieved a double digit growth of 12% on a significant volume base of 44 million cases in the previous year, in a highly regulated market with sales and marketing challenges in every state. United Spirits has created an unprecedented landmark yet again in the history of alcoholic beverage industry in the world.”
McDowell’s No.1 operates in the prestige and above price segments with its McDowell’s No.1 Brandy, McDowell’s No.1 Celebration Rum, McDowell’s No.1 Whisky, McDowell’s No.1 Platinum Whisky, and McDowell’s No.1 Diet Mate Whisky. Prestige industry’s growth for last year was 10%, the company added.
Today, McDowell’s No.1 sells 1.68 billion units of whisky, rum and brandy in India – ahead of the total 1.53 billion mobile handsets sold the world over in 2012 (estimated by Korean Investments and Securities, a cellular market analyst company).
