LONDON: India's United Breweries Group, the second largest spirit company in the world, has developed colourless whisky and diet whisky which does not add to the cholesterol level.
"We have not only developed colourless whisky and diet whisky but we are the patent holders as well," UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya said while speaking on 'Entrepreneurship and Leadership in the 21st Century' at the London Business School here.
"We are fighting with the European Union for the classification (of the new spirits)," he added.
Later, in a conservation with UK-India Business Council Chief Executive Officer Sharon Bamford, Mallya answered a wide range of questions on doing business in China, Indian Premier League, FormulaOne and Kingfisher Airlines, UB group promoted carrier.
When asked about the secret behind his success, he said, "Self-confidence and thinking outside the box" were factors responsible for his achievements.
He said the most frustrating moment in his life was trying to do business in China. "Corruption and bureaucracy are very much there," he said, and added, "India has far better environment to do business than in China."
Talking about his airline Mallya claimed that Kingfisher Airlines has now emerged as the largest domestic airline in India with a 30 per cent market share.
Mallya said many people had questioned his wisdom in starting a direct flight from India to London when others were cutting down flights because of spiralling cost. He said he had done it to capitalise on the Heathrow slot available. Normally it was very difficult to get a slot in Heathrow, he said.
Kingfisher would start international operations in August this year, leveraging on the rights acquired by Air Deccan, which was bought by Mallya last year to fly abroad.
According to prevailing regulations, an Indian carrier can only fly abroad when it completes at least five years of domestic operations and having a minimum fleet of 20 aircraft.
Answering a question on corporate social responsibility, he said he had opened a hospital in Bangalore and built water tanks for every village between Bangalore and Mysore.
He described India as a land of huge opportunities.
