The Hindu Business Line : Asia Pacific Breweries eyeing strategic tie-ups

Upbeat on India: Mr Vivek Chhabra, Regional Director for South Asia and Group Business Development Director for Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd (right), with Mr James Wong, General Manager for Singapore region, at a press conference in the Capital on Wednesday.

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New Delhi, Feb. 27 Asia Pacific Breweries’ domestic arm is eyeing strategic tie-ups with several retail giants to push up its sales graph. The company said it will also undertake expansion to increase its capacity to meet market demand.

“There is tremendous growth in retail and we are in talks with several players including Reliance and Vishal Mega Mart to increase our presence in the new format stores. Since the industry is highly government regulated, we are exploring all possibilities for growth. We are listed with Reliance and whenever its formats are ready, we will also have presence,” said Mr Chetan Gupta, Marketing Manager APBL India.

The company, which launched its international premium strong beer Baron’s in North India, is looking to bring in other brands including the popular Tiger beer.

Tiger beer by mid-year

“India is one of the fastest growing beer markets and we may introduce our flagship brand Tiger beer in India by the middle of this year,” Mr Vivek Chhabra, Regional Director, South Asia, said after the launch here.

ABP is a joint venture between the Fraser and Neave group of companies and Heineken of Holland. In India, APB holds 76 per cent stake in Asia Pacific Breweries (Aurangabad), which produces and markets local beer brands Cannon 1000 and Arlem in Maharashtra.

The company also has 67 per cent stake in the joint venture company Asia Pacific Breweries Pearl Private Ltd. Its greenfield facility has been set with an investment of Rs 80 crore.

Observing that the beer market in India stood at 10.8 million hectolitres last year, Mr Chhabra said industry is growing at a rate of 27 per cent annually.

“We are ramping up our facility in Goa as well. The facility was decommissioned and now we are looking to scale up investments into this to meet the demand in the market.”

Contract farming

To offset the barley shortage, APBL is also looking at contract farming especially in belts such as Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab, he added.

On Baron’s growth potential, Mr Chhabra said strong beer makes up about two-thirds of the Indian market. Currently, India’s per capita consumption of beer is just one litre, lagging other Asian markets such as Thailand and Singapore. “As the market matures, there will be a shift to more premium beers,” he said.

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