Davos 2026: India overtakes China as Carlsberg’s key growth market

Davos: India has outpaced China as Carlsberg Group's most important growth engine, prompting the Danish brewer to accelerate investments, add capacity and push deeper into premium beers in one of the world's most complex markets.

"India is really a key market for us... it's now our key growth market. It's also a bigger growth market than China," Jacob Aarup-Andersen, Carlsberg's global chief executive, said in an interview with ET on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. While China remains larger in absolute size, India "clearly holds the key position" for Carlsberg's future growth, he said.

Carlsberg plans to invest ₹1,250 crore ($150 million) over the next couple of years, with "thousands of crores" more likely over the medium term as it seeks to scale profitably. At Davos, the brewer announced a ₹500 crore investment to set up a new brewery in Maharashtra, part of the broader capital plan in the country.


"We are doing a lot of investments to enforce our position and take market leadership," Aarup-Andersen said, adding that it is spending on new capacity, technology and AI, as well as hiring more talent.

The renewed push follows Carlsberg's move to take full control of its India business about a year and a half ago, ending a long-running commercial conflict with its former local partner. "It's worked very well," he said.

Over the past two years, Carlsberg has grown faster than before, delivering what he described as "high and profitable growth". "If you look at the last 10 years, Carlsberg in India has grown 10% on average and the market has grown 5%," Aarup-Andersen said, adding that while final numbers are still awaited, the company last year again "clearly outperformed the market".

India-a warm, tropical country with promising demographics and increasing affluence-remains one of the largest beer markets worldwide. UB currently controls half of the Indian beer market followed by AbIBbev and Carlsberg.