New Delhi, Nov. 17: Fashionistas, used to watching late night shows of FashionTV, will now get another option to up their style quotient with the entertainment group bringing its vodka brand to India.

Fashion Vodka, part of a two-year-old portfolio of alcoholic drinks and energy beverages established by the FTV group, “is a Polish vodka distilled in Russia which will be bottled in Punjab for sale throughout the country”, said Stavros E. Stavrou, MD of Cyprus-based F Beverages Ltd.

The domestic vodka market is estimated at 8-9 million cases, of which 1 million are in the premium category.

F Beverages is targeting 10 per cent of this premium segment with a series of launches in the top five vodka markets in the country — Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Calcutta — next week.

While the vodka market has been expanding at 22 per cent, another reason for FTV to get into the Indian beverage market is its belief that those who have been watching its late-night shows are now ready for the next leap — to drink what it’s branding as fashionable — F Vodka.

“Around 70 million Indian households watch FTV. Globally, this brand has gone into F Bars, F Hotels, F Beverages and F Wear… now we are extending that brand to our largest TV market in India,” said Yaron Jakubowicz, chief commercial officer of FashionTV, which has been beaming into India since 1997.

Vodka makes up just 3-4 per cent of the domestic spirits market, mainly dominated by brown spirits such as whisky and rum. However, its growth has been almost double the annual growth rate of the spirits market at 12 per cent.

“Vodka is popular among the young and a great mixer… lifestyle changes of the urban middle class have prompted young consumers to experiment with white spirits, including vodka. It is this market we are targeting,” said Rahul Kashyap, CEO of Kristal Spirits, the Indian bottler and distribution partner of F Beverages.

Other products, including wine and energy drinks for women, are also in the pipeline. “We want to sell a lifestyle statement, not just a TV channel or a vodka. That is why we will be bringing the whole fashion range — clothing, watches, F Bars — eventually,” added Jakubowicz.

“What we are saying is that if you are part of the fashionable set, you want a fashionable lifestyle.”

However, F Vodka, which promises to give you a Russian-Polish experience with a quadruple distilled brew, is entering the market at a time analysts say the younger generation is moving away from vodka towards more experimental drinks such as mixes, liqueurs and cocktails.

Young urban professionals drove vodka sales up 30 per cent over the last decade with Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad accounting for the largest chunk.