India: United Breweries Ltd promote Shekhar Ramamurthy to joint president

Vijay Mallya’s United Breweries Ltd (UBL), India’s largest brewer, promoted Shekhar Ramamurthy to joint president, in a likely move to prepare him for the top job, Livemint reported on September, 20.

Ramamurthy, who was earlier a deputy president, will now directly handle strategic planning and human resources, along with his earlier responsibilities of manufacturing and sales and marketing. He also runs the international operations of the company, which owns India’s largest beer brand, Kingfisher. Finance, run by Guido de Boer, is the only function not directly under Ramamurthy.

Ramamurthy, an engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology and a management graduate from the Indian Institute of Management, will continue to report to managing director Kalyan Ganguly, who has headed UBL for the past decade. Ramamurthy’s appointment was effective 1 September.

“My priorities remain the same—to grow the business ahead of market in terms of price and volume both,” Ramamurthy said in his first interview after the promotion. “We are investing in our existing brands and building new capacities with our latest brewery just having opened in Mysore. We also have a pipeline of new brands coming up.”

Another priority is to use Dutch partner Heineken N.V.’s international network to expand Kingfisher’s presence, he said.

The 51-year-old Ramamurthy is a UB Group veteran having spent more than two decades at the conglomerate. The promotion to joint president continues a steady rise for the executive, who has held senior positions at the group’s beer business since 2001.

“Kalyan Ganguly has done very well as head of UBL. He’s an industry veteran and has been the face of the company for years,” said Varun Lohchab, an analyst at Religare Capital Markets. “Ramamurthy, on the other hand, is not that well-known to the investing community, and if he ever replaces Ganguly, he will have to work hard to gain investors’ trust.”

After years of expanding at more than 10%, the Indian beer industry grew just 4% in the year ended 31 March, as high prices and strict regulations hurt demand. But this year, growth has bounced back. In the quarter ended 30 June, UBL, which sells over 55% of India’s beer, reported sales growth of 29%, with volumes rising 14%.

21 September, 2012