Sula Vineyards, India’s leading winery located in Nashik region, is seeking a market valuation of up to 29.13 billion rupees (US$353.8 million) in the country’s first winery IPO, bolstered by India’s growing domestic wine consumption during the pandemic.
The news was announced by the winery’s Chief Executive Rajeev Samant at a press conference in Mumbai on Wednesday, according to Reuter’s report.
India traditionally favors hard liquors and beer over wine but as young drinkers turn to approachable wines particularly rosé, the country’s wine market is expected to grow by US$274 million by 2026, with a 29.3% year on year growth in 2022, according to a recent report by Technavio, a global research and advisory company.
The growing wine consumption trend gained steam during the pandemic. “We saw home consumption rise during the pandemic, and even after (the pandemic) has abated, that trend seems to be sustaining. People are drinking more at home now,” Samant said. Streaming platforms have also helped popularize wine, he added.
“Wine consumption via retail and at home has seen a steady increase during the last two years; currently almost 3/4 of our sales are off-trade, and only 1/4 is on-trade,” Chaitanya Rathi, COO of Sula Vineyards, told The Hindu.
Located in Nashik in western part of India, 180 km from Mumbai, Sula Vineyards was established in 1999 and has grown to be the country’s biggest wine producer and seller. It has a portfolio of 56 labels from 13 of its own brands and 20 international ones. Its net revenue rose 8% year-over-year to 4.57 billion rupees in fiscal 2022.
Sula’s IPO will be open for subscription from Dec. 12-14 and debut on the stock exchanges between Dec. 20-22, the company said.
