Imported whisky sales slow second year as India's post-pandemic premium boom cools

Scotch grew just 5% in 2025 vs 6% in 2024, while Irish decelerated to 21% from 58% and Japanese to 7% from 17%, per IWSR and Diageo. Discretionary-spend pressure, a weaker rupee and rising homegrown premium alternatives are normalising the import surge that drove Scotch's 17.4% CAGR over 2020-25.

— Filed Fri, 19 Jun, 2026, 11:47 IST · Source ET Retail · Updated

Imported whisky sales in India slowed for the second straight year in 2025 across Scotch, Irish, Japanese and American categories, as post-pandemic premiumisation normalises amid discretionary-spend pressure, rupee weakness and rising homegrown alternatives, per IWSR and Diageo.