The Hindu Business Line : Yuksom Breweries plans to go beyond N-E

YUKSOM Breweries, which ranks among the largest beer producing companies in the North-East, proposes to increase its production capacity with a view to catering to larger markets, including a few major ones abroad.

The company, which now produces around three lakh hectolitre at a single location, hopes to shed its regional image and set up production bases elsewhere. It also wants to explore the possibility of turning some of its key products into national brands.

Yuksom's product portfolio now includes `Hit' and `He Man', both of which are mainly aimed at the local market.

According to Mr B. Vaidhyalingam, General Manager, a couple of new units are being considered in Orissa and Assam. In Orissa, for instance, the company is looking at an additional capacity of 75,000 hectolitre.

Yuksom, a closely-held outfit promoted in the mid-1980s by actor Danny Dengzongpa, posted a turnover of around Rs 50 crore last year. It expects to improve its bottomline this fiscal from increased sales.

The company's other plans include setting up a bottle-making unit at its Sikkim plant to create extra synergies and technological upgradation to fine-tune the existing operations. These measures, the company hopes, will enable it to compete more aggressively with bigger players such as Shaw Wallace and United Breweries.

"We now hope to consolidate our position and reach out to consumers elsewhere," Mr Vaidhyalingam told a group of visiting presspersons, adding that the company further proposes to tap fresh opportunities arising in overseas markets, especially the US and Germany.

Some of Yuksom's brands — Himalayan Blue and Yeti — are already exported. The idea is to cater to Indians living in Europe, particularly those who are familiar with Indian brands. In fact, trade enquires had recently come from the UK.

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