India: Cobra Beer to set up greenfield brewery in Punjab

UK-based Cobra Beer on Friday said it is going to set up a greenfield brewery in Punjab with an investment of about $10 million, Daily News & Analysis reported May 18.

The company has already announced that it would be setting up another brewery at Hyderabad at a similar investment.

"Currently we produce beers from four locations, which are through joint ventures with local partners. We are going to set up two greenfield units, one each in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh," Cobra India Beer Pvt Ltd Chief Operating Officer, Poonam Chandel said.

"Each of these new projects would have the capacity of three million cases per annum and that could be further upgraded without much investment," she added.

The project in Punjab is already in advanced stages and the company is soon expected to announce the details in June.

Cobra Beer Chief Executive Karan Bilimoria had earlier said that the greenfield plant in North India could have a capacity of 5 million cases per annum.

Bilimoria, who is currently in India to release his book "Bottled for Business", also announced entry into the Indian wine segment with its flagship brand "General Bilimoria".

"We will be launching our wine products in India in October but initially we may not launch all of the ten variants of our wines in India," Bilimoria said, adding the company could spend Rs 5 crore on brand promotion.

Cobra beer is targeting the sale of 30000 cases per annum initially and is presently talking to various Indian players to manufacture wine in India.