Bira 91 story: A few years ago, a name created a stir in India’s beer industry. That name was Bira 91. This was a brand which gave a new style and identity to beer among the youth. Its colorful packaging, cheeky monkey logo and light wheat beer changed the Indian pub culture. But the same Bira 91, which was once the epitome of coolness, is today stuck in a deep financial crisis. But why? What were the reasons behind this? Now what options are left for the company to save the brand? Let us explain in detail-
Bira 91 was started in 2015. Its founder is Ankur Jain, who studied at Carnegie Mellon University and later ran a few pubs in London. From there he realized the potential of the beer market in India. After returning to India he thought that India needed its own craft beer. From there Bira 91 was born.
Initially the company imported beer from Belgium, so that there was no reduction in taste and quality. Then in 2016, its own brewery was established in India. Soon, the cheeky monkey logo and taste of this beer became popular among the youth.
Generally many people do not like the taste of beer, but Bira was light, tasty and came with cool branding. These three things were the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of Bira 91. It was created keeping the Indian youth in mind.
When Bira 91 became the epitome of “coolness”
Within a few years of its launch in 2015, Bira 91 became the new star of India’s beer industry. Its tap houses started opening from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru to Goa. The company partnered with popular pub chains like “The Beer Café”.
The company was at its peak in the financial year 2022-23. Revenue reached Rs 824 crore and its valuation reached $450 million (approximately ₹ 3700 crore). It was an honor for any company. It became India’s fastest growing craft beer brand.
After achieving all this, the discussion about IPO of the company also started. It seemed that Bira 91 was becoming the king of the Indian beer industry. Even Bira 91 directly challenged Kingfisher, which has been the top selling brand in the Indian beer market for the last several years. According to Drinktec.com, from 2018 to 2024, Kingfisher’s market share has been between 45 to 50 percent. After that, some years Haywards made the second place and some years Budweiser made it to second place. But their market share never crossed 20 percent.
So how did the crisis start?
Everything was going well, but in December 2022, a decision was taken which shook the foundation of the company. The name of Bira’s parent company was B9 Beverages Private Limited, which was changed to B9 Beverages Limited. This step was taken in preparation for the IPO, so that the corporate structure of the company could be ready for public listing. But this decision proved to be a huge mistake, because before taking this decision the company failed to assess its possible crisis.
The alcohol industry in India is governed by the rules of the state governments. Every state has its own licensing, tax and permit rules. When the company changed Private Limited to Limited, many states considered it a new company. It comes under the rules of the governments.
This means that old licenses and registrations are cancelled. Now to sell beer, new licenses and labels had to be re-approved, and this process lasted for 4-6 months. During this time the company’s sales stopped completely. Sales of Bira 91 completely stopped in big markets like Delhi-NCR and Andhra Pradesh. The company had to write-off its inventory worth Rs 80 crore. Write-off means that the company had to count it in its loss, because these goods were neither sold, nor could they be sold.
The license problem had a deep impact on the cash flow of the company. In FY24, revenue stood at Rs 638 crore, while loss reached Rs 748 crore. By mid-2025 the situation became so bad that the company had to stop beer production. Beer production will stop from July 2025. About 250 employees have demanded resignation against CEO Ankur Jain.
At the same time, the company also lost some of its assets, including ‘The Beer Café’. This cafe has been handed over to the investors because the company had defaulted on the loan.
Now the news is that there was a delay in the salary and PF of the employees. Salary, PF and TDS were not paid for 3 to 6 months. The company fired more than 400 of its 700 employees without clear communication. If we talk outside the company, the suppliers who delivered goods to the company did not get the money on time. The company’s big investor BlackRock canceled a loan of Rs 500 crore, due to which the cash crunch of the company deepened.
When the situation worsened, the employees were the first to start protesting. Many employees collectively demanded the resignation of CEO Ankur Jain. At the same time, investors also sought answers from the company. The company’s major investors, Kirin Holdings (Japan), Anicut Capital, Peak XV (earlier Sequoia Capital India), advised the company to conduct a forensic audit and change the leadership. The company came under pressure and appointed Vikram Kanungo as the new CFO.
What measures are being taken now to save the company?
Bira 91 is now fighting for its survival. The company has started taking some concrete steps –
- Operational Restructuring: Now the company will focus not on every state, but on selected markets (like Delhi and UP).
- License Renewal: Efforts are underway to renew licenses in all major markets by 2025.
- Asset Sale: The company is trying to raise immediate cash by selling an unnamed asset so that PF, salaries and business can be restarted.
- New Fundraising: The company plans to raise a rights issue of Rs 100 crore and approximately $ 132 million (approximately Rs 1100 crore). Of this, 50 million will be in the form of equity and 82 million in the form of structured credit.
- Leadership change and transparency: Questions are being raised on the CEO and employees are demanding that Ankur Jain be removed.
- Forensic audit is ongoing.
