Meet the Man at The Helm of International Spirits & Wines Association
Amrit has always been passionate about changing the image of the Indian spirits and wine industry and unshackling it from the excessive regulations to which it is subjected.
Meet Amrit Kiran Singh, the Executive Chairman at the International Spirits & Wines Association of India (ISWAI), a representative body promoted by multinational alcoholic beverage companies, having investments and business operations in India. Mind you that the members of ISWAI include global leaders like Bacardi, Beam Suntory, Brown Forman, Diageo – USL, Edrington Marketing, Moet Hennessey, Pernod Ricard and William Grant. Amrit has also been the Chairman at the American Chamber of Commerce (the chamber of approximately 500 companies that have invested in India – Coca-Cola, Pepsi, GE, American Express, Citibank, Motorola, Boeing, Walmart, to name a few). As the then Chairman of AMCHAM, he was also the host for President George Bush’s keynote address at Purana Quilla, New Delhi, during his India visit, in 2005.
Now as the Executive Chairman of ISWAI, he has addressed issues concerning the industry by liaising with multiple stakeholders including government representatives and policymakers. These efforts have resulted in tax savings of several thousand crores to the alcohol industry besides other notable wins like ensuring that Indian Duty Free market is kept outside the purview of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to ensure its competitiveness and sustainability and ensuring Karnataka slashed duties by almost 40% on imported premium brands of alcohol.
He also represents India at WTO consultations in their efforts to minimize the negative effects of excessive alcohol consumption. He believes that the only pragmatic way of dealing with alcohol abuse is to curb irresponsible consumption through education and enforcement and thus he is working with state governments in India to curb irresponsible consumption of alcohol through the industry’s Don’t Drink & Drive Initiative and its program to Stop Underage Drinking.
Amrit has always been passionate about changing the image of the Indian spirits and wine industry and unshackling it from the excessive regulations to which it is subjected. He was heading the commercial operations of Brown Forman in South Asia for almost 20 years, after which he retired prematurely to pursue corporate affairs. During his tenure, he had successfully introduced Jack Daniel’s; in the region making it one of the leading premium alcohol brands in the region and to date is still seen as the face of Jack Daniel’s in the region.
During his stint at the helm of AMCHAM, he had campaigned successfully with the Indian government to initiate second-generation reforms such as increasing caps on foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, defence, insurance sectors amongst others and also– for the ease of regulations for foreign investment in India.
He has recently been inducted as a life member of The Keepers of the Quaich – the Scotch whisky industry’s hall of fame. The Keepers of the Quaich is an exclusive international society that recognises those that have shown outstanding commitment to the Scotch whisky industry. In establishing the Keepers of the Quaich, the industry pooled its influential resources to build a powerful society working together to recognize stellar contributions to the industry.
A passionate traveller having travelled to 93 countries, Amrit now hopes to complete 100 countries by the end of 2019. London continues to be his favourite city and Tuscany his favourite region. He particularly enjoys travelling to lands less travelled like Estonia, Sardinia, Latvia, Georgia and the wilderness of Kenya, Tanzania and Kazakhstan.
