Hennessy Cognac, from the house of French luxury goods conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), is looking at India as one of its key markets and expects its fastest selling brand Hennessy V.S. to record a 50 per cent growth next year helped by the company’s marketing initiatives as well as the gradual shift in the mindset of the Indian liquor consumers.

According to Bernard Peillon, chairman and CEO of Hennessy, though the cognac has been available in India since 1818, the company has now stepped forward in a structured manner to position the brand as it sees immense growth potential in the Indian market. The comments comes just two days before French President Nicolas Sarkozy begins his India visit. “For us, India is a market even bigger than France. It is not only fast growing but also has an environment which is extremely favourable for the brand. Also the mindsets of the Indian consumers is changing and they are gradually opening up to luxury brands,” Peillon said.

Cognac, named after the town of Cognac in France, is a famous variety of brandy. The company’s portfolio in India includes Hennessy V.S, V.S.O.P and X.O as well as the ultra-premiumly priced Hennessy Richard and Paradis, served only at high end restaurants. V.S is retailed at Rs 3,100 a bottle, while the prices of V.S.O.P and X.O stand at Rs 5,500 and Rs 15,000 respectively.

Peillon also pointed out that after China, which at present is the company’s biggest market in terms of volume, India has a huge potential because of the sheer size of its liquor market. “South India is a 34 million case brandy market, of which the majority is made locally. This shows the immense scope we have here,” he said. This year, Hennessy has been recording 28-30 per cent sales growth over last year in India. However, at present the company is not looking at grabbing market share, but is focused on converting more number of people into Hennessy consumers. “V.S is our fastest selling brand in India and is expected to record a 50 per cent growth by next year. This indicates the growing acceptance for premium liquor among the Indians. We are targeting youth, who are discerning and well traveled,” Peillon added.

The global Cognac market is dominated by a handful of companies such as Courvoisier, Hennessy, Martell, and Rémy Martin. To make Hennessy a popular brand among Indians, Peillon said that the company is providing intensive knowledge sharing and training to the consumers as well as the traders about the brand and is also looking at duty free channels as a major source of revenue generation. Further, it is creating visibility for the brand in retail stores. The company has come up with the concept of Hennessy Artistry, or contemporary and bold parties.