India: United Breweries to introduce Kingfisher Ultra in five more states in the next six months

United Breweries is looking at marking the Kingfisher Ultra brand's pan India presence by introducing it in five other states, in the next six months, Financial Chronicle reported on May, 8.

“Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Assam are the states that we would expand to,” said Gurpreet Singh, general manager-marketing, United Breweries. The brand has a national market share of 55 per cent now.

Last financial year, the company saw a 20 per cent growth at 35 million cases in Andhra Pradesh. “In fact, the previous financial year there had been a double-digit growth in the beer industry,” he said.

The Vijay Mallya-promoted company launched Kingfisher Ultra at Hyderabad on May, 8. “Andhra Pradesh has the highest number of beer consumers, which is why this is an important market for us. We hope our market here to increase by ten per cent. Last few years, we have been witnessing 50 per cent growth in the state,” he said.

However, the spirits company had to face hurdles to enter this market, which was three years after their first launch of the brand Kingfisher Ultra in 2009. This is mainly due to the evolving state based policies and the delayed process of obtaining licences, the officials said.

“The slowdown could be because of the higher taxes and other restriction from state policies. But in the coming year we hope the beer industry would come back to its double-digit growth,” Singh said.

10 May, 2012