E-Malt.com News article: 2197

India, Mumbai: The visiting global chief executive of SABMiller plc Graham Mackay and the Shaw Wallace top brass led by executive director Komal C Wazir reviewed the progress made by the beer joint venture on February 13, The Financial Express revealed on February 15.

This was Mr Mackay’s first visit to India since last summer when SABMiller formed a joint venture with Shaw Wallace in what has come to be known as the largest International collaboration known to India’s alcoholic beverages industry. The 50:50 joint venture combines the brewing interests of both the partners to form a beer entity with 35 % market share.

The two partners decided to initiate dialogue with various state governments and work towards rationalisation of taxes for tapping the enormous potential that beer holds in India. Both parties agreed that there are a number of regulatory and infrastructural challenges that need to be addressed in order to exploit the full potential of the market.

“The policy environment in India is currently built around the premise that beer should be treated in the same manner as other liquor types such as spirits. In most countries, alcoholic beverages are taxed in proportion to alcohol by volume resulting in reasonable prices of mild beverages like beer,” said Mr Mackay.

Agreeing with Mr Mackay, Ms Wazir said: “Just fifteen years ago beer was almost unknown in China, today they are the world’s largest beer market, with the per capita consumption at almost 18 litres over an enormous population base. If we are able to achieve a more rational regulation of the industry, I am sure we could raise the per capita consumption manifold from the paltry half a litre per annum as at present.”

“I am glad we have been able to integrate the SABMiller and Shaw Wallace cultures very well over the past nine months. Nearly 1300 employees have been organised into a single force. The manufacturing footprint of Shaw Wallace and SABMiller interests has also been aligned without any disruption, whatsoever. In coming months we hope to see improvements in quality, productivity and scale benefits,” Ms Wazir added.

The joint venture named Shaw Wallace Breweries is the market leader in the strong beer segment with almost 50 % of the segment share. Its portfolio in strong segment is driven by Haywards 5000, which, with sales of 15 million cases, accounts for around 28 % of the strong beer segment. Other key brands in the portfolio include Knock Out and Haywards 2000.

In the mild beer segment, the Shaw Wallace Breweries portfolio is driven by Royal Challenge, which is the second largest mild beer brand in India with around 13 %ent share of the segment. Recently, the company has introduced Castle Lager in select markets in India.


18 February, 2004