Rumpundit

’30 percent of alcohol available in the market is counterfeit’

RUPAK D SHARMA
Amit Goswami is the CEO of Nepal Distilleries, the manufacturers of Khukuri Rum. Goswami has been with the company for the last five years. Prior to joining Nepal Distilleries, he worked for various reputed Nepali companies. In an interview with myrepublica.com, Goswami talked about the company´s performance, its future plans and effects of the distribution of spurious liquors in the liquor market.

Excerpts:

Myrepublica.com: How do you evaluate the performance of Nepal Distilleries over the years?

Amit Goswami: Nepal Distilleries is the oldest distillery in operation in Nepal. We will be completing 50 years of our operation this year. In all these years, the sales of our most renowned product, Khukuri rum, have increased constantly and this year, we have set a target of selling 100,000 cartons of our celebrated rum. This is an increment of more than 400 percent compared with the sales of five years ago. We also export around 50,000 bottles every year to around 18 countries including the US and Japan.

Myrepublica.com: Rum is basically a seasonal drink in Nepal. What do you have to say about this consumption pattern?

Goswami: There is also a misconception among people here that rum is a winter drink. That´s why we sell 65-70 percent of our products in five months from mid-September to mid-February. But people in the Caribbean — where rum was originated — drink rum throughout the year. We are slowly trying to change consumption pattern here as well. This is why we have introduced spice rum, which goes very well with colas and ice — a perfect drink for summer.

Myrepublica.com: What measures are you taking to increase overseas sales?

Goswami: Export of 55,000 bottles a year is not so remarkable in terms of volume. But we are working on increasing overseas sales, especially in countries like US, UK, South Korea and Malaysia. We are also eyeing the huge Chinese market, especially the Tibetan side, and the Russian bloc. We are currently looking for distributors who can introduce our products there.

Myrepublica.com: Do you have any plans of diversifying your product range?

Goswami: We do have plans to diversify our brand portfolio to white spirits like white rum and gin. We will soon be manufacturing white rum and gin later on. This being the company´s golden jubilee, we are also bringing out a commemorative Khukuri rum brand called the Khukuri Gold. This will be a premium brand and will cost a bit expensive — at the range of Rs 800. Recently, we also launched Khukuri spice rum in the market. In fact, Nepal is the only country in south and south-east Asia to produce spice rums.

Myrepublica.com: How big is the damage created by the distribution of spurious liquors? What are you doing to aware your consumers?

Goswami: In fact, almost 30 percent of the alcohol available in the market is spurious. And no one can control this. In fact, our company also faced a setback due to a menace created by spurious liquors around six months ago. But to control our customers from getting duped, we started using tamper-proof cap seals even before the recent episode of the distribution of spurious liquors began. Later, we started using plastic shrink wraps on the cap. In fake products, these seals tear up when the cap is opened. But again shrink wraps can also be duplicated. From this Dashain festival, we are planning to put our holograms with secret codes on the caps of all the bottles. After this arrangement, it will be difficult to duplicate our brands.

rupak@myrepublica.com