E-Malt.com News article: India & Pakistan: Pakistani Murree Brewery to start shortly selling its beer in India

Amid rising hopes for an unprecedented opening up of trade between south Asia's two nuclear rivals, Indian drinkers are soon to enjoy Pakistani beer for the first time since the two countries gained independence, The Guardian reported on May, 24.

Murree Brewery, a Raj-era oddity in an increasingly conservative Islamic country, says it will shortly start selling its lager in India, the historic market it lost access to when the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947.

The joint venture with an Indian beer maker represents a remarkable step as the countries try to overcome decades of hostility to increase the tiny amount of trade that trickles across their border.

"This is a huge opportunity for us, given the size of the Indian market," said Sabih-ur-Rehman, a former major who helps run the brewery and dreams of Murree beer becoming as internationally recognised as other Asian brands – such as Kingfisher (India), San Miguel (Philippines) and Singha (Thailand).

Despite the common history shared by the two billion people of Pakistan and India, business between the countries is pitiful. In 2009, only 1% of India's total trade was with Pakistan, which itself only sold 1.7% of its exports to its neighbour.

Pakistan's leaders believe trade could help to revive the country's failing economy, though it remains unpopular with some religious parties.

Optimists even claim better economic ties could ultimately help the two overcome their entrenched disputes over issues such as the control of Kashmir and the future of Afghanistan.

"Improvement in trade will mean greater interaction across the borders and great interaction inevitably leads to greater understanding," said Kamran Mirza, head of the Pakistan Business Council.

Theoretically, Murree Brewery has much to gain from trade liberalisation. Indians drank about 2 bln litres of beer last year and the market is growing as an increasingly affluent middle-class looks for unusual beer brands.

In Pakistan, people ordering beer via room service in smart hotels have to sign a form declaring it is "for medicinal use only". Officially, only Christian and Hindu Pakistanis (about 3% of the population) are legally allowed to drink.

The Pakistani government has recently scrapped a ban on exporting alcohol, but Murree's lager will, for the time being, be brewed under licence in India.

The joint venture with an Indian brewery comes as India also announced that it would lift its longstanding ban on direct foreign investment from Pakistan.

"The Indians are going to really take to this," said Sabih-ur-Rehman. "We are one of the most historic brands in the world and they still remember us in India."

Murree still makes its beer in one of the company's original 19th-century breweries in Rawalpindi, just a stone's throw from the headquarters of the country's powerful army chief. When Pervez Musharraf was in power, regular boxloads of Murree lager would be dropped off for the general.

The company, which also sells soft drinks and processed food, was founded in 1860 and was part of a network of breweries across the subcontinent established to satisfy the parched throats of the soldiers of the British Raj.

In the 1970s, the hard line rule of Zia ul-Haq saw Murree closed down for two years.

Nonetheless, the company, which is listed on the Karachi stock exchange, remains one of the country's biggest enterprises. It is also making its second concerted effort to break into the UK market with lager brewed under licence in the Czech Republic.

Murree has a proud history of punning slogans. In the nineteenth-century it used the catchline "Eat, drink and be Murree." Its latest foray into Britain is being promoted with the appeal to "Have a Murree with your curry."


25 May, 2012