The Hindu Business Line : Shaw Wallace aims to double revenue in three years

The vision is planned to be fulfilled in consultation with McKinsey. This was highlighted by SWC's senior non-Executive Director, Mr R.A. Shah, who chaired the company's 58th annual general meeting here on Monday.

Mr Shah, who chaired the meeting in absence of the chairperson, Ms V.M. Chhabria, said that the SWC management was relieved following amicable resolution of all legal cases with its principal competitor (UB Group) in the country and abroad.

Though SWC maintained its lead in various segments of the liquor industry, Mr Shah confessed that litigation, particularly with its principal competitor, had been a drain on the company's time and resources.

The company's new business strategy aims at strengthening its brand equity of existing bestsellers, creating best-in-class time to market process and achieving lowest-cost manufacturing and purchase operation. Moreover, SWC was committed to benchmark HR practices with the best in the world, he claimed.

He said that a number of regulatory and infrastructure issues needed to be addressed in order to tap the enormous potential of beer market. Therefore, SWC has urged the Union Government to bring about suitable changes in the licensing and taxation regime .

Incidentally, the company's share of beer market in the country increased to 35 per cent as of 2003-04 from 33 per cent in the previous fiscal. The coming months would witness improvements in quality, productivity and scale benefits, he said.

Later, on the sidelines of the AGM, Ms Komal Wazir, Executive Director , said that SWC had set a target to capture at least 10 per cent of the "country liquor" market in those States where the company would be operating.

Currently, it was catering to the country liquor segment only in Uttar Pradesh and shortly would begin operations in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Rajasthan, Ms Wazir said.