COBRA BEER BETS HIGH ON INDIA
New Delhi, October 28, 2007 (IANS)

Indian-born entrepreneur Karan Bilimoria has signed yet another licensing agreement, taking the number of Cobra beer breweries in India to seven. He expects sales would grow exponentially in the next few years. Cobra was first brewed in Bangalore in 1990 and exported to Britain for seven years. In 1997, Cobra started brewing under licence with Charles Wells (Wells & Young's) in Britain.

"I recently signed another agreement which will take the number of breweries in India to seven, apart from the project that we are setting up in Punjab," Bilimoria told IANS by phone from Hyderabad Saturday. Expressing optimism about the company's growth in India, he said, "Our sales grew by around 700 percent from around this same period last year."

"The coming summer is crucial for us. We have set ourselves a target of selling five million cases from the current three million."

"Our two new breweries in Orissa and Madhya Pradesh have started functioning and Cobra is now being brewed in six breweries in India," said Bilimoria, who is in the country on a visit.

Cobra was first brewed in Bangalore in 1990 and exported to Britain for seven years. In 1997, Cobra started brewing under licence with Charles Wells (now known as Wells & Young's) in Britain. In 2005, the brand returned to India and, in partnership with the Mount Shivalik Group of Rajasthan, started brewing for the Indian market. Since then, Cobra has also started brewing with Impala Breweries in Goa, Manav Breweries in Uttar Pradesh and Iceberg in Bihar. The breweries in Orissa and Madhya Pradesh started functioning from this month in partnership with Mikal Breweries and Som Breweries, respectively.

As for the new project in Punjab, Bilimoria said work is going ahead full steam. "The architects, engineers and other workers are working full time on the new project in Punjab." He added that the company's headcount, which now stands at around 200, would also expand significantly.