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Informist, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026

By Pallavi Singhal and Shweta

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI – United Spirits continues to face pressure in Maharashtra despite introducing lower-priced Maharashtra Made Liquor, even as demand in the rest of India remains strong. There are early signs of a broader consumption recovery during the festive (Oct-Dec) quarter, the company's management said at a post-earnings analyst call.

"We've closed a resilient growth quarter overall amidst continued headwinds from Maharashtra... Our launch of Maharashtra Made Liquor at a very attractive price point, and the sampling and gradual distribution increase remain a competitive challenge, especially for the popular and lower prestige segment," the company's management said.

Under a revised policy, the Maharashtra government has raised taxes on Indian Made Foreign Liquor — the core revenue driver for most listed alcoholic beverage makers — to 50-60%, significantly widening the price gap between established brands and lower-priced alternatives such as Maharashtra Made Liquor.

Management said the excise hike, coupled with the rollout of Maharashtra Made Liquor, has materially altered consumer behaviour in the state, prompting down-trading in the lower price bands. "Overall, our single largest challenge remains, Maharashtra Made Liquor, and we are putting our best foot forward to retain the competitiveness of our popular and lower Prestige portfolio," the management said.

Consumers are experimenting with cheaper local brands primarily because of the widening price differential created by the higher tax regime, the management said. "They're making tough choices. They don't believe the product is really as exciting as they would like it to be, but given the pricing advantage, they are making choices," the management said.

Consumer acceptance of Maharashtra Made Liquor has been uneven, with early entrants seeing better traction than subsequent launches, indicating limits to sustained down-trading beyond a point, the management said. However, the company sees the situation evolving broadly in line with expectations. "The script is playing out on expected lines, and we are holding up well."

To attract customers, the company has improved its pack price play, it said. "We've launched the pocket pack in McDowell's now. Earlier, it was only available in Royal Challenge." Pocket packs are small, portable liquor packs, typically containing about 50–180 millilitres, designed to offer consumers a convenient way of consumption.

Excluding Maharashtra, the management said its Prestige-and-above volumes rose 6% during the December quarter, adding that it is happy with the volumes it is seeing from the "rest of India." The company's overall sales volume fell 3.2% on year to 17.57 million cases, down from 18.16 million cases a year ago. Within this, the Prestige-and-above segment volumes declined about 2% on year to 14.62 million cases.

United Spirits said it continues to see tailwinds from Andhra Pradesh, even after lapping the reopening-led surge last year. "Andhra is pretty much in line with our national growth numbers, maybe a little higher than that, because we have a high-share market there," the management said. Andhra Pradesh has now normalised into a steady contributor to growth rather than a one-off base-driven boost, it said.

At a broader macro level, the company said it is beginning to see early signs of a pickup in consumption, particularly at the top end of its portfolio. "At a macro level, we are witnessing consumption green shoots," it said. The management attributed the improvement to higher disposable incomes, income tax slab rationalisation, and favourable monsoon.

However, they cautioned that the strong festive-season performance may not fully sustain through the first half of the calendar year 2026. "The top end of the portfolio has delivered strongly in the quarter, but that will wear off in the Jan–Jun period," the management said, adding that uncertainties around the job market and global geopolitical conditions warrant caution. "While October to December has fared well for us, we still see uncertainty pertaining to the job market and geopolitical undercurrents."

On costs, United Spirits said bulk Scotch remains the only structurally inflationary input, adding that inflation in other raw material inputs remains benign. The management said the proposed India–UK free trade agreement could provide meaningful relief to Scotch costs once implemented. "That will be aided by the India–UK FTA tailwind as and when it comes into play," the management said, with the company expecting the financial impact to start reflecting from the upcoming Jul–Sept quarter, assuming that the deal comes into effect by March.

For the December quarter, the alcoholic beverages company reported net profit of INR 5.29 billion, up nearly 12% on year. Wednesday, the company's shares closed 0.1% higher at INR 1,320 on the National Stock Exchange. The company detailed its September-quarter earnings after market hours on Tuesday.  End

Edited by Saji George Titus

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