Global travel restrictions led to premium and luxury liquor sales directly benefiting the domestic retail market during the peak West Asia war, as sales reduced at duty-free stores in Indian airports, retailers and industry executives said. Mokksh Sani, founder of liquor retail chain Living Liquidz and co-founder of alcobev importer and distributor firm Cartel Bros, said: “What we’re seeing is similar to what happened during the pandemic. People who travel three-four times a year internationally usually pick up a lot of bottles. When international travel drops, the consumption in domestic travel increases.”Living Liquidz operates multiple outlets in high-streets, malls and airports, while Cartel Bros distributes brands such as The Glenwalk and The GlenJourneys at about half a dozen international airports through retail partnerships.Sani’s CartelBros, which co-founded single malt The GlenJourneys along with actor Ajay Devgn, recently expanded to Delhi NCR, one of the fastest growing markets for premium whisky, which company executives said was on the back of a retail footprint of 400-plus outlets.The category is getting increasingly competitive, fuelled also by the recent India-UK FTA. An IWSR report stated that growth of India's imported and premium spirits market has been fuelled by premiumisation, a larger number of drinkers and aspirational demand, adding that imported spirits volumes have grown at a CAGR of 16% between 2019 and 2024. The report noted key growth trends of surging category traction and dominance of Scotch whisky, estimating that imported spirits volumes would grow at a CAGR of close to 8% through 2029. Additionally, liquor is the single-largest contributor to total duty-free airport sales. JM Financial said in a recent report that at Mumbai’s International Airport alone, liquor contributed to 58% of all travel retail and duty-free sales in India last year. Another report by IWSR Drinks Market Analysis noted that duty-free and travel retail volume in India grew faster than the country's domestic beverage sector last year at 13%, in comparison to 6% in domestic stores. “With Indian passenger numbers expected to grow by over 50% through the next five years and beverage alcohol volumes rising rapidly, it is clear that Indian travellers will be vital to the future success of global travel retail," IWSR added in the report.