United Spirits set to become world's biggest booze company (India)

Late afternoon at UB Tower, and I'm taking a smoking break in a corner of the parking lot after three longish interviews with the top management of United Spirits Limited (USL). Sharing my ash tray young managers from USL's marketing department,... When I introduce myself, one of them asks, "So you're writing about the 100 million cases?"

"I'm actually doing a detailed story on the managerial inputs a company requires in a situation of rapid growth," I say importantly. Duly impressed, they ask, "Has an Indian company ever been the world number one in a product category before?" I stall for time, exhaling slowly, looking up at the cloudy sky, before answering: "Bajaj scooters and auto rickshaws maybe? Ayurvedic medicines? Pickles?" They digest this and finally say, "It's not the same thing."

They're quite right. USL is on its way to becoming the world's biggest booze company and that is quite different from being the top dog in pickles. With sales of 100 million cases last year, it has just dislodged Pernod Ricard (96 million cases) to become the world No 2 after Diageo (111 million cases). With a compounded annual growth rate of 14%, compared to Diageo's 2%, arithmetic says USL will be world no 1 some time next year.

"We've come a long since I joined the company 20 years ago," says chairman Vijay Mallya. "Liqour was a commodity then and politicians wanted to ban it. We have turned it into a branded product linked to aspiration. Now a new generation is ready for the good life, we're there with a full range of brands they know and trust."

While Diagio (of Johnnie Walker whiskey and Smirnoff vodka fame) and Pernod Ricard (Absolut vodka, Royal Stag whiskey) operate globally, USL is almost wholly in the domestic market. .....

India makes cola from cow urine
To millions of devout Hindus, it's the real thing: a cola made from the urine of India's sacred cows

By Dean Nelson in New Delhi
Feb 11, 2009

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, India's leading Hindu cultural group, has developed Gau Jal or Cow Water, at its research centre in the Indian holy city of Haridwar on the River Ganges, and hopes it will be marketed as a 'healthy' alternative to Coke and Pepsi.

Hindus worship cows for their life-sustaining dairy products, but many also consume bovine urine and faeces in drinks and spice mixes for their "health-giving" properties.

In some Indian states, cow dung and urine are sold in regular dairy shops alongside milk and yogurt, and "ayurvedic" Indian health food companies make porridge, toothpaste and tonic drinks which claim to cure ailments ranging from liver complaints to diabetes and cancer. The urine is also believed to have disinfectant properties while the dung is used in many Indian village huts as a clean and antiseptic flooring.

Now, the RSS's Cow Protection Department has invented a new urine-based soft drink it hopes will promote its health-giving properties to a wider market. "We refer to gau ark (cow urine) as gau jal (cow water) as it has immense potential to cure various diseases. We have developed a soft drink formula with gau jal as the base and it has been sent to a laboratory at Lucknow for testing," said director Om Prakash.

His team is now focusing on packaging, marketing, and of course preservation to stop its curative drink from going whiffy in the summer heat.

"It will be a revolution of sorts. The acceptance of cow urine as a potent medicine is increasing day by day and once it comes as a cold drink, its demand will definitely increase. It will prove and justify the high stature accorded to a cow in Indian culture." he added.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4592608/India-makes-cola-from-cow-urine.html
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