TVB Craft Breweries to set up brewery in India

NEW DELHI: TVB Craft Breweries, a Delhi-based brewer of specialised beer, plans to invest $12 million to set up a local brewery in Himachal Pradesh.

The company, the first to market flavoured beers in the country, has rolled out a new brand of beer -- Little Devils - in five flavours.

It has contracted a local brewery in Uttar Pradesh to produce 50,000 cases a month.

TVB Craft Breweries chairman David Home said: ���Our target is to produce 50,000 cases per month this year.��� The company has projected total revenues of Rs 25 crore in the current year and Rs 200 crore by 2012.

Mr Home said joint ventures with existing beer companies operating in the conventional beer segment were not on the cards immediately.

The company has allocated an initial investment of Rs 15 crore, going up to Rs 50 crore over the next three years. With the new launch of Little Devils, TVB is hoping to create a market for flavoured craft beer in the country.

Craft beer, a rapidly growing market globally, is produced in 330-ml pint bottles in comparison to mass market brewers that bottle in 650-ml bottles and 330-500 ml cans.