United Spirits chairman Vijay Mallya with Russian Standard Group chief Roustam Tariko in Mumbai on Thursday. (Fotocorp)

Mumbai, Nov. 2: Vijay Mallya has his sights set on two new destinations: Russia and China.

Not for his fledgling, loss-laden airline Kingfisher Airlines, but for his newly-restructured liquor behemoth United Spirits which intends to take several brands from its portfolio to these booming consumer markets.

The world’s third largest spirits company today entered into a marketing and distribution alliance with Russian Standard Company.

“Under the agreement, we will import and distribute their vodka in India, while they will distribute our whisky in Russia,” said UB Group chairman Mallya.

“It is ironical that while vodka originated in Russia, today the world’s largest vodka brands are not from the country. This is the first time that Indian consumers will get the taste of a truly authentic Russian vodka,” said Mallya.

“Until two years back, vodka was not a high growth category in India. However, the white spirit market has seen a big spurt in recent times, which has prompted many spirits companies to launch vodka brands,” said Mallya.

Vodka, with a market size of 3 million cases, is growing at 70 per cent. It is expected to grow at the rate of 40 to 50 per cent over the next three to five years.

“While the Russian market is primarily dominated by vodka, whisky and other spirit products are gaining popularity. We are keen on tapping that market,” said Ravi Nedungedi, president and chief financial officer, UB Group.

“We will launch the Russian standard vodka range in December and the pricing will be at a premium to the existing vodka brands of United Spirits,” said UB Group’s spirits business president Vijay K Rekhi.

“While the standard vodka will be in the range of Rs 500 to Rs 700, the premium ones will have a price tag of about Rs 2,000,” said Rekhi.

The UB brands, which will be available in Russia includes McDowell’s No 1, Black Dog 12 year old, Centenary scotch whisky and Director’s Special Black.

Russian Standard Company, led by Roustam Tariko, dominates the Russian market with 60 per cent share of the premium segment. Its total sales exceeds 1.3 million cases in Russia and 30 other export markets including the US, the CIS nations, Italy, the UK, Greece, Bulgaria and the Baltic Republic.

United Spirits has a market share of 80 per cent of the vodka market with its three brands—White Mischief, Romanov and Alcazar.

“While the alliance is primarily for the Russian market, it would also include some of the exports market of Russian Standard Company," said Nedungedi.