Chaudhuri to head SWC's country liquor line

Deepak Chaudhuri, who was heading Shaw Wallace & Co's (SWC) brewery business before it was spun off into a 50:50 joint venture with SABMiller, has been chosen to spearhead the company's country liquor initiative.

Once the joint venture was formed, Richard Rushton of SABMiller India became the chief executive officer of the new company and Chaudhuri was made incharge of SWC's traditional businesses including gelatine and agro-chemicals and the Colombo-based Shaw Wallace & Hedges, a company that trades in foodstuff.

Chaudhuri will now look after SWC's foray into country liquor. In consultation with McKinsey, SWC is entering the 220 million case per annum country liquor segment.

SWC plans to garner around a five million case volume during the first year of operation in the country liquor market through the branded route.

The company will be launching its brands in the key markets of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh before going national.

Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra happen to be the biggest markets for country liquor in the country. Meanwhile, SWC has strengthened its management team by recruiting people from multinational companies.

Neeraj Sharma from Seagram and Ajay Modgil from Bacardi have joined SWC and are looking after the marketing activities of a major portfolio.

Mathew Xavier has moved from Tata Tea to SWC as an assistant vice-president with marketing responsibilities of a large number of brands including white spirits and international brands.

SWC had recently engaged McKinsey for drafting a strategy for accelerated growth in the spirits sector.

The exercise entails strengthening brand equity in the premium segment, creation of brand extensions in deluxe and prestige segments and trading in products from international spirits and wine majors across all segments including Scotch, vodka and wines.