Kingfisher Witbier coming to Goa, Karnataka soon: Singh

HERALD: How is the beer market in India doing?

GURPEET SINGH: As far as all India beer market is concerned, for the last couple of years, which also witnessed ban on sale of liquor on highways, the beer market had dipped. However, beer market has been growing on an all India basis quite well. Now some States tend to grow a bit more but on an average the all India market has seen over the years a double digit growth from about 9-12 per cent. This year has been little different for various reasons and we are also still trying to put our finger on it. In the first quarter when national and state elections were held, there were a lot of dry days leading to restriction of production. So these disruptions for the market caused a lot of shortages. 

HERALD:How did the prolonged monsoon affect the market?

GS:  Yes, In fact, we thought there will be a bounce back but by second quarter, the prolonged monsoon hit the coastal belt of Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra.  So the growth has been a little muted on that account as well, we were still a bit low and expect to bounce back but considering where the economic trends seem to be going. One has to be a little realistic. Shekhar Ramamurthy our managing director also expects that the growth of this industry is probably going to be pegged at about 5-10 per cent and that could be the trend for maybe another year or two till things take an upward trend.  As far as the liquor business is concerned it was not impacted much. 

HERALD: What about the consumer trends?

GS:As far as consumer trends are concerned there is no sweeping change. They still want to go out and you know over their bonding experiences with their friends, families and communities want to enjoy responsibly. Some amount of indulgence in beers and other products like these there is no change on that front. Yes when things are a little gloomy then consumers are also a little bit apprehensive on how much money they spend so sometimes you see down trading when he goes for cheaper products. He simply cuts down the number of occasions he is out drinking during this time a lot of people also that people try drinking at home rather than going out because they are paying lower for that in comparison to a bar. We have complete faith that the long term impact on the industry will be minimal and eventually the industry will grow. This year, I think is luckily the trend what has been a fairly robust growth in the industry and that is why less than 10 days ago, we have launched Kingfisher Ultra Witbier.

HERALD:Why this name?

GS: It really comes from the fact that the category is all about wheat beer and therefore Witbier. It is also easy to speak and pronounce and therefore catch on that too. Name does the part of the marketing of what the beer is all about and what we have done as far as making of the beer is concerned is we stayed true to the tradition of how the beer wheat beers and craft beers are made. For this to facilitate this, we have made a brewery within a brewery at our Chamundi, Mysore plant in Karnataka which is a large investment. It is our commitment to show that when we make beer we make the appropriate tasting beer for our consumer and give them the best quality. So, we have done that investment and currently are made at Karnataka, it is coming to Karnataka and Goa with the first batch and from the future batches we will expand to other markets like Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Pune as well. 

HERALD: Why did you have to launch this new product and what is your overall share in the beer market in India? 

GS: We got into this because as a market leader, we believe that it is important for us to build a portfolio of brands, because there are different consumers with different needs and we must, as a market leader, address each of our emerging consumer needs. So as long as the consumer need is sizeable enough, we will get into it. Our understanding is that our market share is somewhere in the region is between 50-52 per cent nationally and we are at the top. We have been at the top for a long time and over the years we have only grown in size and thanks to the consumers who, you know, have faith in our different brands that we have launched over the years and year on year come back to drink more and more of our beer and make us the market leader. So, we make the beer for them and they in turn make us the market leader, we are very thankful to them for that.

HERALD:How do you treat Goa as a market for your product?

GS: See, Goa is a different kind of a market and unfortunately many market analysts do not really get it. When I say that they do not get it, people who have worked within our organization sometimes do not get it and lot people see Goa only as a tourism hub. Therefore they do all their activities and promotions with their brands only during the season and therefore they are targeting largely just the tourists, but then, who is talking to the local Goan who lives all twelve months of the year. We hope that we do this well and we have a combination and balance between the two. Of course, when tourist seasons come we will do many things to attract that tourist which is coming from all the other important markets of this country. So when Sunburn takes place, there are visitors coming from Delhi, Bombay, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad also and we are anyway partnering with that festival for many years now. It is a long term strategic partnership and we therefore target these consumers that come from different places but we also do something for someone in Goa, for the Goans. 

HERALD: What do you do to promote your product?

GS: We run a separate set of promotions over during festive time as well but very specific to Goa. What we do is that we realise that the local Goan community is a very closely-knit community, a very proud community of their heritage and their origin and of their State. We participate in a lot of things that they do throughout the year, some are small scale as we have some partnerships with wedding planners, where it is a celebration time. Here is an automatic part of that celebration, it is not true for most of the parts of the country but we partner with Goans, offer discounts and make our products available for them.