India: Molson Coors to sell India business - report

Molson Coors, one of North America’s leading lager makers, has put its India business on the block, including the Thunderbolt beer brand, signalling the company’s intention of exiting the domestic market.

Policy inconsistency in states such as Bihar and diminishing sales in India due to the pandemic have hastened the US-headquartered beverage maker’s decision, sources said.

This has led the company – which sells a large portfolio of lager brands, including Millers, Coors, Blue Moon, and Cobra – to hold several rounds of negotiations with a couple of South India-based breweries.

When contacted, a global spokesperson for Molson Coors confirmed the intention of the company to sell its India business. “That work has been ongoing and we will share more information when a sale occurs. However, we will not engage in speculations and rumours,” he said.

Molson Coors entered India in 2011 with a joint venture between Molson Coors Brewing Company and the Cobra Indian Beer led by Cobra Beer’s founder, British-Indian entrepreneur Lord Karan Bilimoria, with brewing facilities in Bihar.

“At one point, the company had 50% market share in the beer market in Bihar. The company’s fortunes changed when the Bihar government in 2016 banned the sale and consumption of all kinds of alcohol in the state,” said a source.

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