Mumbai: The India unit of the world's biggest brewer AB InBev, which sells Budweiser and Corona beer, has partnered with Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, who has started a lifestyle company SLAB Ventures that will sell premium products from alcohol and apparel to exclusive experiential events.

To begin with, Khan, along with his Europe-based business partners Bunty Singh and Leti Blagoeva, is launching ultra-premium vodka brand D'Yavol (devil in Slavic languages), which will be sold and distributed by AB InBev in the country. “India has a lot of potential and is one of the youngest countries in the world,” Khan told ET, adding that India will be one of the first markets for the product before it goes to half a dozen other countries.

“Being a part of the younger generation, I think I understand the mentality of the youth. It is an extremely ambitious, hungry market and the scope for growth is massive.”

Khan, 25, said SLAB, registered in the Netherlands, will operate as a multicategory firm with different lifestyle verticals. For instance, it will offer capsule apparel collection drops early next year and will launch brown spirits like whiskey and rum through its beverages arm.

Capsule collections are akin to limited editions that are season agnostic. In 2021, sales of beer and spirits such as whiskey, vodka and gin expanded 17-18% by volume, the fastest expansion in more than a decade due to a low base and increased in-home consumption, according to IWSR Drinks Market Analysis data.

The liquor segment in the country is highly regulated, with the government controlling pricing and retail as well as distribution in several states. Over the past few years, the market has also been hit by new laws, including highway bans, demonetization and increased taxation.

"The approach we are taking is to expand ourselves into a full beverage company. The whole idea of the strategic partnership is born out of that coming together of shared ambitions," said Kartikeya Sharma, president, India and Southeast Asia at AB InBev.

"We are bringing the knowhow of the business in a regulated market, with a common set of values that looks at wanting to do the business in a highly compliant way and building brands for consumers who we think will continue to swell, because they are looking for aspiration without a tradeoff on quality."

Negotiations on whether it will be a profit or royalty based partnership are still ongoing, said AB InBev. The new wheat-based vodka is made in Poland and refined using black pearls from Tahiti, according to the company. It will initially be sold in Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka at Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 6,500 a bottle before being rolled out to Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, West Bengal and Telangana. Despite India being the largest spirits-drinking nation globally in terms of volume, the share of premium and luxury and premium liquor is less than 2% due to 150% duty on imported liquor.