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Mumbai: B9 Beverages Pvt, the owner of Indian craft-beer brand Bira 91, will open its fifth local brewery before the end of the year, as it seeks to capture growing demand for more savory flavors in the country ahead of a planned initial public offering .
The new brewery in Madhya Pradesh – Beira’s second in the central Indian state – will initially add 400,000 hectares a year, Ankur Jain, 41, the chief executive officer of the brewery, told Bloomberg News in an interview in 2015.
Known for its cartoon punk monkey mascot and backed by Sequoia Capital and Japanese beverage firm Kirin Holdings Co., B9 has tapped investors for nearly $50 million so far this year. Amid heated interest in India’s startup space and their IPO, Jain said the brewery is also preparing for its last and biggest round of private fund-raising, ending in 2021, before pinning down its listing plans.
“Consumers are looking for more flavor,” he said on the strong demand trajectory. “I don’t think anyone will slow down.”
The capacity of Beira’s newly planned unit could be increased to 1 million hectares – one hectare is equal to 100 liters (26.4 gallons) – thereby increasing Beira’s current capacity by 2 million hectares. Currently, the country’s fourth-largest brewer, Beira lags behind foreign firms dominating the Indian market, including Budweiser maker Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, Carlsberg A/S and Heineken NV, which owns India’s Kingfisher Lager. .
Jain said that with sales of $170 million on a year-on-year basis, Bira is poised to be operationally profitable within six months. He declined to comment on the amount of B9 and the timing of the IPO.
Upstart Brewers
India has seen a modest surge of upstart brewers and craft distillers in recent years, reflecting trends globally where discerning drinkers seek new flavors away from decades-old brands.
It is still a relatively untapped nation with low per capita consumption and alcohol is a taboo for many sections of the population of about 1.4 billion. of India beer market According to Euromonitor research, it was worth only $7.8 billion in 2019 – a fraction of the US$105.4 billion market.
Apoorva Nema, head of practice, research consultancy GlobalData, said: “The long-term outlook is strong, given rising demand from young consumers, rising affluence and extreme heat.” 40% in 2020
While India’s beer industry was hit hard by the Covid-related lockdown, Jain said Beera, which produces a wide variety of lagers, stouts and ales, managed to double its sales and triple market share, as many customers came home. But wanted to experiment and take advantage of it. Emerging e-delivery platform.
“Competition is definitely on the rise – I still think it’s a very early, early stage,” Jain said. “We’re not close to saturation yet.” –bloomberg
Read also: India considers allowing FDI in IPO-led LIC
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