Regions

Allied Blenders & Distillers, the Kishore Chahbria backed winemaker, had been in discussions with Sentini Bioproducts for the purchase of the latter's blending and bottling unit. The Andhra based Sentini priced the unit at INR300 crore in a bid to increase internal productuion, especially in the country's largest liquor market.

The subject plant has a capacity of 1.25 lakh liters and is able to cater to some of the states in South, especially Andhra Pradesh. The region accounts for nearly 15% of the total liquor industry, according to one person with direct knowledge of the transaction.

For the brewer though, Andhra Pradesh comprises 30% of sales for Allied Blenders & Distillers.

Sentini did not respond to an email inquiry while ABD said it would not comment on speculation.

According to Allied Blenders & Distillers Executive Vice Chairman Deepak Roy, "The biggest challenge for the industry are steep taxes for the government, which has forced companies to increase prices. Apart from sales, profit per case is declining too as we can't really pass on the entire burden to consumers."