Indage on a high, to enter beer mart

It is time for liquor giants UB group and Shaw Wallace to watch their space. High on the success of its wine business, the home grown Champagne Indage is planning a major thrust in the alcoholic beverages segment.

The Rs 125 crore company is diversifying into beer and spirit and is looking at quadrupling its turnover in the next couple of years.

Ranjit S Chougule, executive director of Champagne Indage, said, "We have established ourselves in the wine business and are the market leader with over 75 per cent share. It is natural we would like to enter related segments in the alcoholic industry." The company sells its wine products under the Chateau Indage umbrella which has 32 labels.

Champagne Indage, the largest producer of wine in Asia will be launching, strong beer under the Hammer brand, and mild beer under Tantra, which is largely for the export market.

India is traditionally a strong beer market, which has a share of 63 per cent of the total 85 million case beer market. UB and Shaw Wallace""SAB Miller dominate this category.

"We will be launching the Hammer brand by the first quarter of next year and will be priced at par with other beer brands in the market, Chougule added.

The company is in talks to tie up with three breweries for contract manufacturing. These include Goa, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh.

On the spirits business, the company is strongly eyeing the white spirits segment ""Vodka and is yet to firm its plans on this front as to whether to launch its own brand or bring in a international label.

The Chougule family owns 60 per cent of the company's equity and is looking at a private placement. Champagne Indage stock today closed at Rs 39.05 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Though Chougule refused to be drawn into the subject, he said "Many private equity funds including some foreign funds have approached us to pick up a stake in the company."