Cobra Beer to enter wines segment
26 Apr 2007
New Delhi: UK-based Karan Billimoria''s Cobra Beer plans to set up a wine distillery in India. The Indian wine market has been expanding at a rapid clip, and Billimoria wants his company to grow with the market.
Dynshaw
Italia, chief operating officer and finance director,
Cobra Beer, said, the company was looking at the Indian
wine market and also planning to set up its own distillery.
He also disclosed that the company would launch its wine label, General Bilimoria, by the end of this year.
Italia
was conferred the ''young finance director of the year
award'' by the UK''s Confederation of British Industries
jointly with the trade publication Real FD.
The setting up of the wine distillery in India is part
of Cobra Beer''s strategy to expand in India along with
the rapid growth of the market for wines Italia said.
He, however, did not disclose the investment the brewer
would make.
Till now, Cobra has been focusing on the Indian beer market. Dinshaw said it would invest on two green field breweries, one in North India and another in Hyderabad. "We have a target to cross the $1-billion sales world-wide by 2014 and sales in India would make important contribution in it," Italia said.
The
company has recently tied-up with Impala Brewery in
Goa, which
has a capacity of one million cases of beer per annum.
It also has tie-ups with Iceberg Brewery in Bihar and
Manar Brewery in Uttar Pradesh, besides a facility in
Rajasthan.