According to a survey conducted by Vinexpo, wine consumption in India is likely to increase to 2.1m cases by 2017, marking a 73.7 percent increase from the 1.21m cases sold in 2013.
Vinexpo Chairman, Xavier De Eizaguirre said that the increase in wine consumption is being driven by similar factors as China including the rising middle class, Business Standard reports.
"Many factors are behind it as there is rise in the salary in the country, people are traveling to the West, local production is increasing and people are becoming sophisticated. For similar reasons, wine consumption in China has increased. It triggers demand in any country," De Eizaguirre told The Press Trust of India.
According to the report, more than 61 per cent of wine consumed in India is red, and this segment is expected to grow by 71.6 per cent between 2013 and 2017.
In addition the nation’s taste for spirits is also on the rise with an expected 20 percent rise over the next five years, which is said to be largely due to an increase in the consumption of Scotch whisky and brandy.
"(With wine) having increased significantly by 73.7 per cent between 2008 and 2012, Indian spirit consumption will continue to grow over the next five years reaching a total of 373.5 million by 2017, up 20.5 per cent compared to 2013," the International Wine and Spirits Report, 2014, read.
The steep increase in consumption positions India as the fifth largest importer of spirits in Asia at present and the Vinexpo study predicts that its position that could be bumped up to the fourth, overtaking Thailand by 2017.