| Karan Bilimoria. London based beer magnate is contemplating expanding his presence in India with a couple of new breweries at an investment of $20 m and also getting into wine business.
Speaking about his plans to enter the Indian wine industry, Bilimoria said his group was producing 10 varieties of reds, whites and rose from Spain , France and South Africa .
'We will launch one white and one red in India in October with locally sourced grapes. Both these wines will be linked to our global General Bilimoria brand. We are initially targeting 30,000 cases,' he said.
Bilimoria, who is also co-chair of the Indo-British Partnership Network launched by the two governments a few years ago, said he saw a huge potential for wines in India and hoped the high duty structure would be rationalised.
'Even in Britain , which is one of the most expensive places, wine can sell for as low as three pounds - less than Rs.250. I see no reason why it should not sell for the same or even lower price in India,' Bilimoria said.
'A growing wine industry will prove good for Indian agriculture and farmers.' He added
Bilimoria, nominated to Britain 's House of Lords last year, said King Cobra beer was doing well in Britain and felt the same success can be replicated in India . 'Seventy percent of the Indian market is for strong beer.' He is planning to set up two breweries at an investment of US $20 million, after crossing export of one million cases to India .
He has risen quickly with his Cobra beer which, set up only in 1989 is exported to 35 countries and has revenues of about $150 m.
It is interesting to note that unlike the UB King Dr. Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher Beer which announced lass year that he was considering using Kingfisher brand for wines too, Karan plans to stick to the global brand General Bilimoria ,named after his late father, for wine.
In 1999 Karan launched the General Bilimoria Wine brand, which is now the house wine of hundreds of Indian restaurants, including the two Indian restaurants awarded Michelin Stars this year and many other top London establishments.
DelWine has endorsed UB's entry to Indian wine production scene but given a Thumbs Down to using Kingfisher Wines as the label, suggesting to use Mallya, or Vittal or any similar label that is feasible. Editor
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