India’s Varun Beverages has announced the creation of an alcohol subsidiary that will be lead by ex-Diageo executive Prathmesh Mishra.
The PepsiCo bottler, headquartered in the state of Haryana, announced the creation of the wholly owned subsidiary, Kiva Spirits and Co, in a stock-exchange filing yesterday. Subject to approval from India’s ministry of corporate affairs, Kiva will produce ready-to-drink (RTD) products, alcoholic beverages including beer, wine & spirits, and unspecified “allied products”.
Mishra (below) will become CEO & managing director of Kiva, which will be Varun Beverage’s first dedicated alcohol venture.
Mishra has spent the past 12 years at Diageo, joining as COO of the company’s ‘West’ division and working up to MD of Korea & Japan. Prior to joining Diageo, he spent 14 years at Pernod Ricard India, latterly as business head for the unit’s ‘North Zone’ and Nepal.
Since 2021, Mishra, who announced his departure from Diageo last month, has also been the chairman of Indian Premier League cricket team Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Varun Beverages formally added the manufacturing and sale of alcoholic beverages to its corporate objectives last October, signalling a longer-term ambition to build a portfolio in the category. In a postal ballot issued to shareholders at the time, the manufacturer & bottler cited “growing popularity” of RTDs for its interest in the alcohol category. “Our company sees an opportunity for expansion into the business of RTD & alcoholic beverages of any type or description,” it added.
Varun Beverages made its debut foray in alcohol through a distribution agreement with Carlsberg last year. The deal was set to commence with the test marketing of the brewer’s namesake beer across unspecified African territories.
