Cobra Beer plans 4 breweries

Cobra Beer, the beer company promoted by India-born British billionaire Perses Billimoria, is planning to have four breweries in the country.

While the $110 million company is planning to set up a greenfield project in Andhra Preadesh, it has tied up with Mount Shivalik Brewery, the largest independent brewery in the country, to manufacture its beer in Rajasthan.

The alliance would be extended to jointly produces beer at two other locations"" Punjab and Maharashtra.

The company is investing around Rs 4.6 crore in upgrading one of Mount Shivalik's breweries in Rajasthan. Mount Shivalik has an installed capacity of seven million cases with sales of Rs 300 crore.

Besides the flagship brand, Thunderbolt, the brewery has brands such as Stroh's, Golden Peacock and Punjab Extra Strong.

Karan Billimoria, founder and chief executive officer of Cobra Beer, said: "We would be starting commercial production at our Rajasthan unit next week and would look at starting our greenfield project by next year. We see a tremendous business potential in the Indian market."

We expect an industry growth of around 25-30 per cent in the coming year." Also, we are looking at offering premium beer range at affordable rates as is the case in countries such as the US and UK."

Currently, the import duty on beer is around 400 per cent and hence the company loses its competitiveness in the domestic market.

The decision to set up a greenfield unit in Andhra Pradesh is also an outcome of the state government's decision to lift the freeze on new brewing licences.

Billimoria is currently in Mumbai to attend the three-day Pravasi Bharatiya Divas festival.

The £50 million Cobra Beer has a presence in 30 countries and the proposed project in India would be the first for the company, which supplies to markets around the world from two contract breweries in Bedford (UK) and Poland.

The beer made its presence felt in the UK as an authentic Indian beer sold through the curry restaurants in that country.

According to reports, the 5,500-odd south Asian restaurants still account for about half of the brand's annual sales revenue.