Can Bira 91 Reclaim India's Craft Beer Crown After Its Yearlong Hibernation?

There’s the brand, and then there’s the corporate entity behind it. In the case of Bira 91, nearly everyone knows the brand, but the company’s troubles over the past year stem from its lesser-known legal identity: B9 Beverages Private Limited.

Here’s some context: in the alco-bev industry, the corporate entity is arguably more important than the brand. Because everything — from manufacturing to sales — is governed by licences and the licence that belongs to the corporate entity.

As a beer brand with an ultra-cool urban image, Bira 91 had cracked the game, and its budding beer empire relied on licences held by B9 Beverages Private Limited.

The growth for the brand and the business was built on $449 Mn in equity funding in this corporate entity from marquee investors, including Peak XV Partners, Sofina, Kirin Holdings, among others.

What has gone relatively under the radar is the fact that the company’s shares are very active in the secondary market — often known as the grey market where shares of unlisted companies are traded. While such trades are often notional, founder and CEO Ankur Jain told Inc42 that, in Bira 91’s case, these were actual share transactions.

As a result, the company found itself in a unique place: it was about to reach a point where it had more than 200 shareholders on its cap table. Under the Companies Act, 2013, B9 Beverages Private Limited was obligated to , as explained by UnlistedZone, one such platform that deals with unlisted securities. The latter is a public limited company in structure, but not a publicly listed one.

It’s this change that triggered a butterfly effect of sorts.

Suddenly, the Bira 91 brand was forced out of the market as its corporate entity scrambled to re-acquire licences in every state where it manufactures and every state where it sells. These are all separate licences and once again, Bira 91’s Jain and the top management was starting from scratch.

The fallout was brutal: a mass recall rarely seen in the Indian D2C space, product write-offs worth INR 80 Cr, business disruption across multiple markets, and unpaid dues that left many employees jobless as manufacturing units were shut down.

In an in-depth conversation with Inc42, Jain laid bare the reasons behind this disruption that threatened to swallow Bira 91.

“I think there is a lot of work to be done for us to repair the business and get to profitability. But we have survived probably the most debilitating part of our journey thus far after Covid. We turned 10 in February this year, so it’s a fresh start for us,” Jain said.

But Jain is confident that Bira 91 is ready for the next phase with its “largest fundraise”. The CEO claimed the company is close to finalising a $100 Mn round by Q2 FY26 and a separate INR 100 Cr ($11.7 Mn) rights issue, which will help the company revive itself.

Jain claims to have a turnaround plan in place — from continuing the leaner manufacturing and distribution strategy it adopted last year to adjust after the business disruption, to reviving sales across India and rebuilding trust in the brand.

Can Bira 91 reclaim its buzz amid intense competition from legacy giants like United Breweries and AB InBev, as well as rising challengers such as Simba, White Owl, BeeYoung, Kati Patang, and more?

How Bira 91 Brewed A Storm

In 2015, Jain set out to carve a niche after trying his hand at another related startup — importing beers with distinct flavours from the US and Europe to India. There was demand for a change from the Kingfishers and the Budweisers that proliferated the market at the time.

And it was around this time that flamboyant entrepreneur and billionaire Vijay Mallya, the former chairman of the United Breweries (UB), was reported to have fled India after defaulting on loans. The beer industry was in crisis mode.

So when Jain floated Bira 91 in 2015, claiming to be the first bottled craft beer from India, there was definitely a vacuum in the market and a thirst for something new. The brand debuted in Delhi NCR with beer imported from its Belgian unit.

Bira 91’s monkey logo became synonymous with the brand and its branded glassware were known for being distinct from the other beer brands in the market.

The startup raised multiple rounds of funding in quick succession after hitting the market and striving to build the brand. The big leap came in 2018 with a $50 Mn Series B round led by Sequoia Capital (now Peak XV) followed by another .

It also raised debt from Kirin Holdings to the tune of INR 208 Cr and another INR 500 Cr from various banks and NBFCs to use as working capital. All of this money had gone into the painstaking licensing process across states and countries for beer manufacturing and sales.

In India, this process is cumbersome and requires years of work. Jain said the company had six manufacturing units in five states in India, and was present in over 27 states. Any new state requires a new push on the licensing side and engaging with bureaucracy and state governments.

What’s In A Name?

Imagine doing something so effortful once, realising that you have to do it again, or essentially shut the shop on your massive business. Most other brands do not face this situation because of how regulated the alco-bev industry is.

So the name of the company, in this case, means everything.

According to Jain, Bira 91’s shares in the unlisted market saw significantly high trade activity and sometime in late 2023, it was staring at a situation with over 200 investors on the cap table.

Under the Companies Act, 2013, if a private company exceeds this limit, it can no longer be known as a private limited company. Hence, the company had to drop “private” from its registered name, forcing it to re-acquire all those licenses once again.

This included obtaining manufacturing licenses for its six breweries in India, reapplying for retail and wholesale licenses, and registering new products. It also involved a write-off of products worth INR 80 Cr from its books in FY24. At that point, Jain said there was also a huge inventory backlog and already manufactured packaging material, which also had to be written off.

“So typically in alcoholic beverages and beer, products typically require annual registration under normal business conditions. But because we had a change in the company name, we had to re-register all of our products in every manufacturing and selling state on an individual basis. And in many cases, this was a sequential process, followed by price approvals for all products afresh. This set of events created significant business disruption where we were unable to manufacture or sell our beers for a minimum of four months and in the worst case scenario eight-nine months,” Jain informed us.

The disruption lasted till the first half of FY25 or September 2024. It also didn’t help matters that Delhi, where Bira 91 generates the most revenue, experienced a significant slowdown and disruption in official alcohol sales due to excise duty issues stemming from the 2022 Delhi liquor policy.

Bira 91’s Risky Sales Concentration

Despite claiming a presence in 27 states, Jain said around 80%-90% of sales come from just two states — Delhi and Andhra Pradesh. A change in governments in both states, and the issues around the Delhi liquor policy, disrupted these two huge sales centres for the company.

“The beer industry experienced something like a 50% slump in sales in FY24 and FY25 in these two states. But for us the impact was more pronounced because of our market concentration,” Jain said.

We could not find data for these particular states for that time period, but the overall Indian beer industry grew byand according to the estimates by the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC).

Vivek Gupta, managing director and chief executive officer of United Breweries, recently said that excise duty in states is a , especially in states with new governments. So there could be some credence to Jain’s claims about an industry-wide slowdown in Delhi and Andhra Pradesh.

Jain told us that while Bira saw revenue decline in FY24 and H1 FY25, the revenue was flat in H2 FY25 because the focus was on stabilising the business.

The company’s gross margins currently stand at 66%, compared to United Breweries’ 47% (though on a significantly larger scale).

Jain said the focus in the past year has been on increased revenue per case sold and fixed cost reduction. In terms of losses, Bira 91 claims that they have been able to reduce losses by 50% YOY in FY25.

In FY24, Bira 91 saw a 22% YOY revenue drop to INR 638 Cr and a 68% rise in losses to INR 748 Cr.

Looking ahead, Jain said the company plans to address the challenge by expanding into Tier II and III cities and strengthening its presence in the premium beer segment beyond metro markets. To support this, Bira 91 is forging new distribution partnerships to enable and scale the next phase of growth.

“Prior to Covid, two out of three bottles of Bira 91 were sold in Tier I markets. Today, two out of three bottles are actually sold in Tier II, III and smaller towns. With deeper penetration, we have been able to realise higher revenue per litre which is also linked to quality product mix, fixed cost optimisation. Over the last two years the revenue per litre has increased by 15%,” Jain told Inc42.

In terms of fixed costs optimisation, Jain said that transitioning to craft manufacturing and a leasing model for its breweries on a 50:50 partnership has also helped reduce burns.

“We’ve also been able to reduce headcount and reduce certain marketing expenses, so much so that over the last 18 to 24 months, through efforts and initiatives that we took on a quarterly basis, we’ve been able to reduce our fixed cost burden by nearly 40% versus FY24,” he added.

Will Cash Flow Back Into Bira 91 Beer?

While the B9 Beverages battles multiple challenges on the financial, supply chain and competition front, its annual report for FY24 has flagged several concerns. Its independent auditor report for FY24, for instance, has stated its current liabilities exceeded its assets by INR 487 Cr as of March 31, 2024.

It further states that the company has incurred a net loss of INR 643 Cr, and a negative cash flow of INR 42.2 Cr, with total accumulated losses of INR 2,117.9 Cr as of FY24.

Jain admitted that the company is currently facing cash flow constraints and has a substantial , including vendor payments, statutory dues (TDS and other taxes), and employee salaries.

To address this, he outlined plans for a capital boost, including an equity infusion of approximately INR 850 Cr (~$100 Mn) and an additional INR 100 Cr through a rights issue.

“There is certain capital that is being infused by me in my personal capacity. I am also expecting to acquire shareholding from certain existing investors to increase my own shareholding, and at the same time, there are existing investors that have sort of committed capital, and we are expecting to conclude those fundraises in the next quarter,” Jain revealed.

Jain is expected to become the single largest shareholder once the round closes — a move that signals both a vote of confidence and a bid to steady the ship as Bira 91 works towards profitability.

He said the fundraise is not just critical for resolving the impending issues, but to get to the point where the company can achieve operating breakeven. Jain projects that Bira 91 will reach that stage by the end of FY26. “Our expectation is that the business, with its reduced fixed cost, its improvement in margins, and repair in top line, will be profitable by Q3 of this fiscal,” he added.

Beer Competition Heats Up

While India braces for yet another sizzling summer, the alco-bev industry and new-age Indian brands will leave no stone unturned to capture shelf space and mindspace.

A senior consultant with a Bengaluru-based market research firm pointed out that any suspension of sales at this time can be catastrophic for the Bira brand. It was pulled from the shelves of pubs and breweries last year, and other microbreweries took its place, which further hurt Bira.

“Talk to any brand and they will tell you that barring Kingfisher which by the way is still the top beer brand across the country, there is no loyalty game in this industry. It is a matter of volume game and occupying shelf space,” he added.

A founder of a D2C alco-bev brand told Inc42 that other brands have indeed strengthened their presence, and Bira 91 might have a tough time reclaiming this space. “When Bira 91 parent company expanded to international horizons and spent millions of dollars in cricket sponsorship and other tournament deals to appeal to urban consumers, it had focussed on aggressive marketing expansion to be the new urban cool brand. However, the industry also simultaneously witnessed disruptions with smaller brands raising VC money over the last few years.”

Furthermore, the market exploded with new-age alternatives and brands, including Simba, White Owl, Kati Patang, BeeYoung, Kadak, among others, vying for shelf space. The rural market has an even longer tail, with a number of vibrant local brands emerging every season.

“We now see a change in consumer behaviours with health-consciousness even among beer drinkers. Gender inclusivity and flavouring are also in demand,” the analyst added.

Can Bira 91 ‘Rebottle’ The Genie?

Today, all of Bira 91’s relaunched products continue to feature its distinctive monkey logo and bold colours. Thus far, the company has not launched all SKUs in every state, and is taking a cautious approach to scaling this up.

“We are getting the sort of distribution back up, obviously because of disruption across markets. Distribution has been impaired and so on.. On the manufacturing side, we are very confident, having transitioned to a partially contract manufacturing model. This has released INR 70 Cr of our fixed costs. But on the sales and distribution side, we’ll have to do a considerable amount of repair,” Jain admitted.

He added that in some non-focus markets, the SKUs have been withdrawn, but supply has been restored across major pubs and bars in Delhi and Maharashtra. All 50 properties owned and operated by B9 Beverages Ltd under the Bira 91 Taproom and The Beer Cafe chains are also operational.

While CEO Ankur Jain has a definite revival plan at hand, it would not be easy to bounce back and recreate the magic of the early Bira 91 years. The vacuum of the past two years has left the company with unanswered fundamental questions such as unpaid employee salaries, statutory dues and financial liabilities of reportedly more than INR 1,000 Cr.

“I have been in business long enough to state that I can never say that there are no more challenges. So the way I look at this is we’ve been through a deep valley or a deep trough, and we are literally climbing up and climbing up very rapidly, right? So,” Bira 91 CEO confessed towards the end of the candid conversation.

Even if Bira 91 is somehow able to pull itself out of this situation through a financial lifeline and clear the bottlenecks, it will require more than just fresh capital for a turnaround. It needs to get the fizz back, and the next year will be another make-or-break period for Jain and Co.

[Edited By Nikhil Subramaniam]

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