The Hindu Business Line : United Spirits to improve distilling capacity

Kolkata, April 25 UB Group company United Spirits Ltd (USL) will invest Rs 200 crore in augmenting primary distilling capacities in the next two years, according to Mr Ravi Nedungadi, President and Chief Financial Officer of the group.

Mr Nedungadi told Business Line that almost all the distilleries owned by the company were molasses-based. USL has only one grain-based distillery in Rajasthan. The idea now was to also have “multi-substrate distilleries” that can manufacture both molasses-based and grain-based spirits.

“This will enable us take advantage of prices in the commodity market and switch our manufacturing processes from sugarcane to grains and vice-versa as the case may be”, he said.

According to him, it was important for the company to augment distilling capacities in view of the fact that 70 per cent of its spirits requirement was being sourced from third parties.

Mr Nedungadi and Mr S.R. Gupte, Vice-Chairman of the UB Group, were in Kolkata to attend a shareholders’ meeting of Shaw Wallace & Company Ltd that was held to approve the company’s amalgamation with USL.

On how USL would position the brands of Shaw Wallace & Company Ltd post the latter’s merger with the former, Mr Nedungadi said a leading London-based designing firm has been engaged to look at ways to “retain the heritage” of well-known Shaw Wallace brands. The exercise is expected to be over in the months ahead.

USL will continue to spend 10-11 per cent of its total sales proceeds on advertisements and sales & brand promotion initiatives, Mr Nedungadi said.

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