India’s Varun Beverages has announced the creation of an alcohol subsidiary that will be headed up by ex-Diageo executive Prathmesh Mishra.
The PepsiCo bottler, headquartered in the state of Haryana, announced the creation of the wholly-owned unit, 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 of Kiva, which will be Varun’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 chair of Indian Premier League cricket team Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Varun formally added the manufacturing and sale of beverage alcohol to its corporate objectives in October last year, signalling a longer-term ambition to build a presence in the category. In a postal ballot issued to shareholders at the time, the manufacturer & bottler cited the “growing popularity” of RTDs for its interest in alcohol. “Our company sees an opportunity for expansion into the business of RTD & alcoholic beverages of any type or description,” it added.
Varun made its alcohol debut 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.
