Radico Khaitan prepares to brew its own beer story here

MUMBAI: The Lalit Khaitan-led Radico Khaitan group, the manufacturers of 8 PM Whisky, and the only serious player other than Vijay Mallya’s UB group in the Indian spirit business, is eyeing opportunities in the booming beer market. This market is currently dominated by UB and international beer major SABMiller.

Sources told ET that some multinational brewers have expressed an interest to strike a joint venture with the Radico group, which has so far, confined its activities to the manufacture of spirit brands.

Radico has made its presence felt in the 120m cases Indian liquor business with 8 PM Whisky, a brand whose runaway success has catapulted the group into the elite club of Indian spirit majors. The 4-m cases 8 PM Whisky set a record of sorts when its sales crossed a million cases in 1999, the year of its launch.

Lalit Khaitan told ET, “Now, unlike in the past, we are not averse to looking at opportunities in India’s beer market. So far, we have been focusing on our spirit business; since we have attained certain stability in this business, we can look forward to other areas now.”

However, Mr Khaitan said: “So far, we have not made any plans for the beer business, except that a couple of overseas beer majors have expressed interest in joining hands with the group.

The 130-m cases Indian beer business, which grows by over 10-15% every year, has been keenly watched by international beer majors. SABMiller and Scottish & New Castle have already set up shops in India.

SABMiller, producer of Castle Lager beer, has effected many acquisitions in India, including the beer business of Shaw Wallace, while S&N has already entered into a joint venture with UB, manufacturer of Kingfisher beer. These developments have raised the curiosity of other world brewers and some of them have already carried out preliminary discussions with the Radico group.

Raju Vaziraney, president, Radico Khaitan, and CEO of the newly-formed Radico-Diageo joint venture, said: “The ground reality is that the market is growing at 14-15% every year. There is room for everybody.” Radico has a respectable presence in the fledgling wine market too, thanks to a joint venture with US-based wine major E&J Gallo.