Danish beermaker Carlsberg opens brewery in AP

Carlsberg India on Wednesday opened its first brewery in the south in Andhra Pradesh with an investment of Rs 128 crore.

The brewery at Sangareddy in Medak district would produce 425,000 hectolitre (1 hectolitre is 100 litre) per annum. "In the second phase, we would ramp up our production capacity to one million hectolitre (100 million litres) annually and invest according to the requirement,” Soren Gronnegaard Lauridsen, managing director, Carlsberg India, said.

This is Carlsberg’s fifth and the biggest brewery in India, built on 36 acres employing 200 people. It has installed a re-use plant in addition to the waste water treatment plant. Apart from AP, the company has plants in West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra with a total production capacity of 1.69 million hectolitre (169 million litres).

“The premium beer segment in India is evolving and we expect to push the momentum. With this introductory venture into south India, we would export to states including Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka,” he said.

The Denmark-based global beermaker entered the Indian market in 2007 and operates three brands here — Tuborg Green, Tuborg Strong and Palone.

The Indian beer market is growing at 20 per cent. The company has a 5 per cent market share in the overall beer market. Under the mild beer category, its share is 25 per cent and 12 per cent in strong beer.

Carlsberg registered a turnover of $10 billion last year.