1-4 September, 2006 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India
    Ravi Jaipria now lines up IMFL bottling plants.



Ravi Jaipuria, one of the largest soft drink bottlers in the country, is adding muscle to his recent foray into the alcoholic beverage market. He plans to set up a string of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) bottling plants in the northern States to boost his 26 percent stake in Ramesh Vangal funded liquor start-up Mason & Summers Alcobev Pvt Ltd.

Mr Jaipuria plans to set up IMFL bottling units in a clear indication that he would be more than a financial investor in Mason & Summers. “The first bottling plant is expected to come up in Rajasthan.

Ravi Jaipuria, the youngest scion of the Delhi-based Jaipuria family, is also expected to handle the distribution of brands belonging to Mason & Summers in select north Indian markets.

Mr Jaipuria’s ties with Mr Vangal goes back nearly two decades and they have reportedly drawn up a closely guarded roadmap to shore up the fledgling Mason & Summers, which include brand acquisitions. In context, Mr Jaipuria’s plans to invest in bottling units assumes significance. He steps into Mason & Summers at a time when some of the original associates of the Vangal company have made a hurried exit.

Anil Grover, a Kolkata-based distributor and bottler, has come out of the Mason & Summers fold in recent months even as the southern strong man D K Adikeshavulu has pulled out his working capital exposure to the company.

However, Mason & Summers is expected to restart bottling pact with Adikeshavulu’s unit in Bangalore following renewal of the excise license in this regard.

Mason & Summers owns brands like Wild Horse Whisky, Glen Drummond Single Malt and Royal Crown whisky, and has reported monthly depletions of nearly 50,000 cases.

While Mr Jaipuria’s ties with the Vangal company may have an exclusive, non-competitive arrangement in the liquordom, the former said he would take up beer distribution if his talks with InBev, the world’s largest brewer by volume, for a domestic manufacturing joint venture fructifies.

Date: 19-Sep-2005

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