Chadha Group to invest in beer segment

NEW DELHI:  Diversified business conglomerate Chadha Group is making a foray into the beer segment in the next one year, with plans to invest around Rs 130 crore to set up a greenfield brewery.
    
"As a part of our expansion plans, we are entering into the beer segment. At present, we are in the process of setting up a brewery in Gurdaspur in Punjab with an investment of Rs 130 crore," Chadha Group Managing Director Raju Chadha said.

The group, which is mainly into liquor retailing and sells IMFL brands such as Silver Peg, Patiala Kings and Raffles, has set up two subsidiaries -- AB Sugars and AB Grains Spirits.

The beer business of the group would be handled by AB Grains Spirits. It is setting up two new distilleries at Gurdaspur and the proposed greenfield brewery would be set up at the same location.

The greenfield beer brewery will have a capacity of around five million cases per annum, he said, adding that the group was yet to finalise the brand name for its beer.

Chadha said the company is also in talks with some foreign beer makers for both contract manufacturing as well as technical tie-ups.

"Since we don't foresee full capacity utilisation for our doemstic requirements, we may use the remaining capacity of our brewery for contract manufacturing," he said.

When asked about the time-frame for its entry into the segment, Chadha said setting up brewery will take around one year, which would be enough for them to finalise all negotiations and complete all regulatory approvals.

The Chadha group is Rs 2,500 crore conglomerate with interests in fields such as real estate, multiplexes, film distributions, distillery and liquor retailing.