India: Mild beer market now growing after being flat for about 3 years – United Breweries vice president of marketing

Eighty percent of India’s beer market is strong beer but the mild beer market has now started growing in the last 1 and a half to 2 years after being flat for about 3 years, Samar Singh Sheikhawat, vice president of marketing at United Breweries Ltd., was quoted as saying by Bloomberg on August, 11.

At the top end of this market a significant crust is forming - the super-premium, mild beer market - which today consists of Kingfisher Ultra, Carlsberg, imported beers and now Heineken. If you put all that together, this year it will be about two million to three million cases, Sheikhawat said while commenting on the launch of locally brewed Heineken in India.

“I would estimate that the rate of growth of this market is about 30 percent to 40 percent year-on-year. While it’s a small market in absolute size, the rate of growth is high.

“There’s a large youth population that is obviously the target for beer. It is getting socially acceptable to drink, especially beer.

“When we were going to launch Kingfisher Ultra two years ago, we used to wonder who would buy a 100-rupee ($2.2) beer. But today, Kingfisher or the mainstream beers are close to 90 or 95 rupees. What was considered a barrier for beer doesn’t exist anymore. People are willing to pay for quality.”

12 August, 2011