Bira 91 staff move plea for 'leadership change'

New Delhi: More than 250 employees of B9 Beverages have approached its board and top investors including Japanese beverage company Kirin Holdings and Peak XV Partners, seeking a "leadership change" at the maker of the Bira 91 craft beer and the ouster of founder Ankur Jain from its management. They made the demand in a petition, addressed also to the company's largest lender, Anicut Capital. ET has seen a copy of the petition sent after the company held a town hall in September.

The petition cited "corporate governance failure, lack of transparency, delays in employee dues and salaries", as well as cases filed by creditors "showing deteriorating financials" and pending payments to vendors for seeking a change in leadership. A person in the know said almost all the current employees have backed the petition. Executives aware of the developments at New Delhi-based B9 Beverages said Bira91's production stopped in July. American asset management fund BlackRock, which was in advanced talks to invest ₹500 crore of debt in the promoter group of B9 Beverages, too has pulled out, they said.

The privately held company's key board members include Jain, his mother and wife. As of June 2025, Jain and his family held a 17.8% stake. Kirin Holdings is the largest stakeholder with a 20.1% share.


Jain said the company "is not aware of any such petition addressed to key shareholders". The board has also not received any communication, he added. He said there was a "pause" in production in September, and that he expects it to resume it this month.

Peak XV, Kirin Holdings, Anicut Capital and BlackRock did not respond to emails seeking comment till press time Thursday.

Several employees ET spoke with said salaries have been due for six months, while reimbursements have been pending since November 2024.

Tax deducted at source has not been deposited for over 50 employees for the last financial year, and all employees this fiscal year, said one of them. The last payment of PF was made in March 2024, he said. The pending salaries and reimbursements for more than 500 employees, many of whom have since left the company, amount to ₹50 crore, said another employee. "Besides, there have been multiple layoffs and exits." The company currently has just over 260 employees, compared with more than 700 last year, said people in the know.

Jain said certain payments had been delayed. "It is true that we have employee overdues that have been persisting. These range between 3 and 5 months, depending on the level of employees, and include a delay in payments of tax dues as well," he said, responding to ET's queries.

The company restructured its business by focusing on fewer states, reducing fixed costs and focusing on gross margins," Jain said. "This has meant taking hard calls on reducing costs including reducing employee headcount by nearly 50% over the last 15 months." B9 Beverages reported a ₹748 crore net loss in fiscal 2024 on revenue of ₹638 crore. Sales volume fell to 6-7 million cases from 9 million cases in FY23. The company has not yet filed the FY25 numbers.

Jain cited "significant business disruptions" over the last 18 months, caused by a change in the company name that triggered the requirement to re-register licences, changes in liquor policies and delays in its fundraising process. "These resulted in volume degrowth in FY25, complete disruption of the company's business and cash flow for several months and a pileup of overdues including statutory dues, employee dues and vendor dues," he said.

On production, Jain said facilities in Gwalior and Nagpur were "live" in July and August, but there was a pause in production in September. He expects manufacturing to resume this month.