Radico Khaitan Limited (RKL) was incorporated on 21 July 1983. The Company is among the oldest and one of the largest manufacturers of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in India. The Company commenced
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its operations in 1943 and was earlier known as Rampur Distillery Company. Over the years, it has emerged as a major bulk spirits supplier and bottler to other spirit manufacturers. It has become one of the most admired liquor brands across India and is engaged in the manufacturing and trading of Alcoholic products such as Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), Alcohol, Country Liquor etc. It also has its presence in India as well as various other global markets.
The company's brand portfolio across the IMFL categories of Whisky, Brandy, Rum, and White Spirits includes After Dark Premium Whisky, Contessa Rum, Jaisalmer Indian Craft Gin, Magic Moments Vodka, Magic Moments Verve Vodka, Morpheus XO Brandy, Old Admiral Brandy, Pluton Bay Rum, Rampur Indian Single Malt Whisky, Regal Talon Whisky, 1965 Spirit of Victory Rum and 8PM and 8PM Premium Black Whisky, etc. Currently, the Company has five millionaire brands in its portfolio,which are 8PM Whisky, 8PM Premium Black Whisky, Magic Moments Vodka, Contessa Rum and Old Admiral Brandy.
Radico Khaitan is one of the largest providers of branded IMFL to the Canteen Stores Department (CSD), which has significant business barriers to entry. The Company has been successfully building its brand equity in international markets and currently exports its products to over 85 countries. The Company has three distilleries in Rampur (Uttar Pradesh) and two in joint venture RNV in Aurangabad (Maharashtra) in which Radico Khaitan owns 36% equity. Presently, the Company has 33 bottling units spanning across the entire country, of which 5
are owned and 28 are contract bottling units with a total annual capacity of 160 million litres. Apart from this, it has a strong sales and distribution network with a presence in retail and on-trade through over 75,000 retail and 8,000 on-premise outlets in the relevant segments in different parts of India.
The Company was merged with Abhishek Cement Ltd (ACL) with effective from 1st January of the year 1997 and started its journey of building its own brand portfolio with the launch of 8PM Whisky in 1998. In the first year alone, it sold one million cases - a record for any Indian or foreign brand operating in India. This also made it the first brand in the liquor industry to make it to the Limca Book of Records. The Old Admiral VSOP, brandy was launched in the state of Kerala during the year 2002 and also introduced in Andhra Pradesh markets. Radico had acquired M/s Anab-e-Shahi Wines and Distilleries Pvt Ltd in 2003-04. The Company had set up a state of the art of the bottling unit at Shree Khatushyamji Industrial Complex, in Sikar, Rajasthan with a capacity of 12lac cases per annum, became operational in January of the year 2004. During the same year 2004, the company made its entry into Tamil Nadu by the way of its brands, Contessa Rum, Old Admiral Brandy and 8 PM Select whisky, launch in the Tamil Nadu market through Golden Midas Distilleries, who is bottling partner of the company in Tamil Nadu.
A green field bottling plant of the company was set up at Bajpur Industrial area, Uttaranchal for bottling of 600000 cases during the year 2004-05. It had set up a fully automatic 750 ml kidney shaped PET bottle manufacturing plant in Uttaranchal and also added additional capacity for molasses at Rampur. In the identical year of 2004-05, the company had acquired Anabeshahi Wines & Distilleries Pvt ltd (AES), which owned a bottling unit in the state of Andhra Predesh. The Company had inked overseas Joint Venture (JV) agreement in UK and Western Africa in May of the year 2006. Diageo, the world's largest drinks company and Radico made an equal JV in Indian sprits market during August of the same year 2006. In March 2007, Diageo Radico Distilleries Pvt Ltd, the joint venture between Diageo and the company had launched Masterstroke Deluxe Whisky, a blend of Premium whiskies. During the financial year 2007, the company had set up a grain-based distillery at its Rampur plant with a capacity of 27 KLPA. In February of the same year 2007, the company's JV with Diageo - Diaego Radico Distilleries Pvt Ltd had launched a new brand - Masterstroke Deluxe whiskey - in the premium segment. Radico also acquired other brands from Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate Ltd.
The brand Old Admiral under the category of brandy won the Monde Selection award for its overall quality in the year 2008. In May 2008, Radico Global Limited and Radico International DMCC ceased to be the subsidiaries of the company. Radico forayed into the flavoured vodka market by launching six flavours under its Magic Moments extension brand-Remix in August of the year 2008.
During FY 2014, Radico NV Distilleries Maharashtra Ltd (RNVDML), a Joint Venture (JV) of the company received Private Sector Investment (PSI) subsidy from Government of Maharashtra of Rs. 39.8 Crore. During FY 2014, the JV modified its distillation plant to reduce the consumption of steam in production of alcohol. RNVDML has also installed a evaporation plant with molasses alcohol plant which has the effect of reducing generation of effluent by about 80% and has made the plant a zero discharge plant.
In FY 2014, Radico Khaitan enhanced its premium offerings by launching Verve Magic Moments Green Apple and Verve Magic Moments Orange flavoured premium Vodka in North India and selected states in West India. During FY2014, the Company launched Morpheus Blue, an upgraded version of the super premium Morpheus Brandy to further strengthen its premium product offerings.
In May 2016, Radico Khaitan launched two new whiskies: Rampur Indian Single Malt and Regal Talons Semi Premium Whisky. While the launch of single malt is a testament to company's R&D and product development capabilities, Regal Talons is targeted at filling the gap in the Company's premium whisky portfolio and capturing the opportunities in the largest segment of the Indian spirits industry.
During the year 2017, the Company installed and commissioned integrated evaporators in the grain spirits plant, which converts the entire thin slop into wet cake that can be sold as cattle fodder. This has helped in bringing down the effluent discharge from grain plant to zero. The Company also installed and commissioned integrated evaporators in molasses distillation plant resulting in reduction of spent wash generation by approximately 45%. After the effluent is passed through the RO plant, additional 45% effluent volume is reduced and only about 25% of the total effluent is left for bio composting. The Company increased the bio-composting area by 7 acres to consume more effluent in bio composting and has reduced fresh water consumption by recycling process condensate and lees from distillation plants to fermentation.
During the year 2018, Radico Khaitan launched 8PM Premium Black whisky and Morpheus Blue semi luxury brandy, providing its loyal consumers an opportunity to upgrade to superior blends and higher category brands.
During the year 2017-18, Radico Khaitan received a number of awards for its leading brands. These awards are a testament to the Company's innovation and quality of products. The Company's Rampur Single Malt whisky received the Double Gold at San Francisco World Wine & Spirits Awards 2017 and was Ranked 5th amongst the Top 20 Whiskies of 2017 in Whisky Advocate Magazine USA. In the Monde Selection Quality Awards 2018, Magic Moments Remix Flavoured Vodka Peach and Morpheus Brandy received the International High Quality Trophy. This Trophy is awarded for products which have reached a high quality level, i.e. Grand Gold or Gold, over three consecutive years.
As on 31 March 2018, the company has one joint venture, namely, Radico NV Distilleries Maharashtra Limited (Radico NV). The Company has 36% stake in the said joint venture.
The company won Gold at the Global Monde Selection Awards in the calendar year 2019.
During the FY2020, The outbreak of COVID-19 created a global health calamity and economic crisis. Nationwide lock down in India brought businesses to a halt and disrupted the economy. During the lock down period, IMFL bottling was fully suspended from 24-March to 4-May but manufacturing of ENA was partially operational as the company started production of sanitizers to support the nation's fight against Coronavirus.
During the year 2019-20, the company was ranked as the no. 1 mid-cap company in Fortune India's 'The Next 500' list, the first comprehensive ranking of India's midsize companies. The Next 500 list represents the most promising companies in India, outside the Fortune 500. Radico Khaitan has consistently improved its ranking in this list from 60th in 2015 to 28th in 2019 and jumped 27 places to first rank in 2020.
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