VIJAY Mallya, the Indian drinks tycoon, has called for the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) to transform itself into a global whisky association embracing Irish and American whiskies.
In his first major speech to the Scotch whisky industry since buying Whyte & Mackay, the Indian billionaire said that the industry needed to unite and embrace a raft of changes to make Scotch more attractive to a younger audience or risk losing out t
o other categories such as vodka.
In a speech that unsettled many purists, Mallya called for experimentation with natural additives and ingredients to create a "spectrum of flavours" to win over the growing affluent youth in India.
Speaking to the World Whiskies Conference he said: "Why not have a more global view of Scotch whisky and create a world whisky association?
"The SWA spends too much time worrying about whether whisky is spelt with an 'e' or not when it should be broadening the appeal of Scotch whisky to take on other categories head on.
"As an industry we should be looking at ways of making Scotch whisky far more appealing to a younger audience. One such route could be adding natural ingredients like gin does with juniper."
In the past year the SWA and India have come to blows on an almost monthly basis over the taxation of imported spirits into India. Despite the abolition of the additional duty levied on imported spirits by the Indian government last year, individual states have since introduced their own taxes on spirits from abroad. Although Mallya's tone was conciliatory, he repeated his desire for a process of constructive dialogue.
"We in India not only welcome the Scotch whisky industry, we acknowledge the Scotch whisky industry, and we wish to wholly co-operate with the Scotch whisky industry. If that were not the case, I would certainly not have invested £600m in acquiring Whyte & Mackay.
"(In India] it's not all one-way traffic in that we want to shut you (international spirits producers] out. Companies need to look objectively at how to deal with government. Confrontation doesn't work in India, it gets our backs up.
"I have to say in the past the SWA has been a bit heavy-handed in its relations with India. Confrontation does not work in India, it just leads to stubbornness with a situation that a no is a no for the sake of politics.
"I read Scotland on Sunday (last week] and in that article the Scotch Whisky Association was quoted as calling India tardy. That isn't the language of international relations, I have had several calls from people in India taking offence to the word tardy. They say we are not tardy.
"The SWA should get into bed with the Indian spirits manufacturers."
Mallya now controls about 60% of the Indian whisky market following his £595m acquisition of Whyte & Mackay last May. Since that acquisition the price of bulk whisky has risen considerably as the widespread practice of selling whisky for cheap own label blends has stopped.
Mallya said he liked the idea of prices staying high and called on the SWA to restrict production, much like the Opec countries do with oil.
He said: "Over the last few years we have seen the price of whisky rise. Well, why don't we keep it that way? The SWA could become a value custodian.
"In the past we have seen overproduction ruin the profitability of the industry, one way we could prevent this is by restricting production. Opec does is it."
The full article contains 596 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
