British spirits maker Diageo expects Asia to drive sales growth of its products by 50%, inspite of the fluctuations in its Asia unit.
Diageo CEO Ivan Menezes told BBC that the basics in the Asian region are still strong. For instance, the growth in this market will be propelled by factors such as 60 million people entering the legal drinking age every year.
Last year, the Chinese government's austerity drive had hit the company's sales - Scotch whisky sales had dropped 22%.
In the second half of 2014, the firm had seen lower-than-expected sales of 5.9bn ($8.7bn) while its earnings dropped by 18% to 1.7bn.
Currently, 20% of Diageo's current business comes from Asia and the CEO expects this to grow to 25% with growth prospects led by China, India and South East Asia.
Menezes added: "Our focus in China is to build a consumer-led business, to get our brands resonating with the consumers.
"It's a very attractive market as the emerging middle class is yet to come through strongly."
The company is focusing on emerging markets to boost growth over the next decade as the growth has been tepid in developed markets of the US and Europe.
Diageo produces Smirnoff vodka and Guinness, Johnnie Walker whisky and several malts.
