Pine Cask executive director Karan Rekhi (left) with CMD Harsh Vardhan Lal in Calcutta on Friday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, Dec. 2: Pine Cask Beverages India, the latest player in the domestic liquor industry, hopes to sell over 100 million cases next fiscal.

?We have already sold 65 million cases since we launched our India made foreign liquor (IMFL) brands in the country and expect to close the year with 75-80 million cases,? Pine Cask Beverages executive director Karan Rekhi said.

The firm has launched its first portfolio of brands in the mid-level segment of whisky, rum and gin under the Pine Cask Fort Williams brand, Pine Cask Beverages chairman and managing director Harsh Vardhan Lal said.

The company, incorporated in January this year, is making inroads in the IMFL market in the eastern region and will enter the western market in 2006-07, said Rekhi.

Pine Cask Beverages plans to set up a distillery facility in Goa to tap the western market. ?We are working out the modalities of setting up the distillery and expect it to be operational by 2007 at a cost of around Rs 5 crore,? said Rekhi.

The existing distillery and research and development centre of the company are at Motta in Orissa. The firm also has distillery and bottling partnerships with companies in other states.

?We will finance the investment with internal accruals, though we have plans to go public at a later date,? said Rekhi.

The company intends to make headway in the Rs 40,000-crore IMFL industry by 2007, said Rekhi. ?We are investing Rs 15 crore for promotional activities and brand R&D, within which we plan to enter the western and northern markets of the country,? he added. The domestic IMFL industry is growing at an annual rate of 11 per cent.

?We are focusing on all major segments of the industry and are, therefore, offering a wide range of products to meet the demands of all consumers,? said Lal.

?We plan to be a portfolio player and not a single-brand company. We will execute 360 degrees portfolio in all the segments, including premium, semi-premium and regular categories, across the line,? said Rekhi.