India: The United Kingdom-based Cobra Beer would invest about Rs 45 crore (Rs 450 million) to set up a greenfield plant in India for brewing beer, a top company official told New Delhi on January 5. The company has already tied-up with one brewery and is in talks with four more to brew Cobra range of beer in India which is currently being imported from the UK, its founder and CEO Karan Bilimoria told PTI. "We will invest $10 million for a greenfield plant, which is likely to come up in Hyderabad. The unit will be functional in 2-3 years," he said.

He said the upcoming brewery would be funded through both debt and equity for which details were being worked out. "We have already raised $12 million in the UK, and we may think of being listed in Britain this year," Bilimoria said.

Cobra Beer, which has an annual sales turnover of $100 million, targets to sell a million cases in India during the next 2-3 years. The company, which started brewing beer in Bangalore in 1990, shifted its base to the UK in 1997 and imports Cobra beer from the UK to sell in India. Bringing beer from the UK to India attracts a whopping 400 % import duty which needs to be rationalised as everyone would benefit from a reduction in import duty. In the UK and South Africa, import duty on beer has been brought down to zero from 14 and five per cent, respectively, he said.

06 January, 2004