Beer in India has been prepared from rice or millet for thousands of years. In the 18th century, the British introduced European beer to India. Beer is not as popular as stronger alcoholic beverages like

desi daru Desi daru (), also known as country liquor or Indian-made Indian liquor (IMIL), is a local category of liquor produced on the Indian subcontinent, as opposed to Indian-made foreign liquor. Due to cheap prices, country liquor is the most popular a ...

and Indian-made foreign liquor, such as Indian whiskey. The most popular beers in India are strong beers. Beer-like

sura A ''surah'' (; ; ) is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. There are 114 ''suwar'' in the Quran, each divided into verses (). The ''suwar'' are of unequal length; the shortest ''surah'' ( al-Kawthar) has only three verses, while the ...

has been produced in India since the

Vedic era The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the e ...

(c. 1500–1200 BCE, Rig Veda), rice beer has been produced by the native tribes since ancient times, European beer imports to India from England started in 1716, introduced by the

British raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

. Lion beer, produced continuously since the 1820s, is Asia's first beer brand, and the first Indian brewed European style beer.

History

Traditional beer

The

Veda FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...

s mention a beer-like drink called ''sura''. It was the favourite of the god

Indra Indra (; ) is the Hindu god of weather, considered the king of the Deva (Hinduism), Devas and Svarga in Hinduism. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes Indra is the m ...

. Sura is also mentioned in the

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

Megasthenes Megasthenes ( ; , died 290 BCE) was an ancient Greek historian, indologist, diplomat, ethnographer and explorer in the Hellenistic period. He described India in his book '' Indica'', which is now lost, but has been partially reconstructe ...

has recorded usage of rice beer in India.

Kautilya ''Kautilya's Arthashastra'' (, ; ) is an Ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, politics, economic policy and military strategy. The text is likely the work of several authors over centuries, starting as a compilation of ''Arthashas ...

has also mentioned two intoxicating beverages made from rice called ''Medaka'' and ''Prasanna''. Rice beer or ''handia'' has been traditionally prepared by various indigenous tribes of India, in which '' Ruellia suffruticosa'' is sometimes added for flavor. Rice beer also has ceremonial use among the

Asur people Asur people are a very small Austroasiatic ethnic group living primarily in the Indian state of Jharkhand, specifically within the Gumla, Lohardaga, Palamu, and Latehar districts. They speak Asur, a Munda language. Occupations Asurs are tr ...

. Millet beer is also prepared by some tribes. According to biologist J. B. S. Haldane, local beer helped in keeping diseases like beri beri checked in these tribes. Recently, government and social workers have been trying to curb alcohol usage among these tribes. Elephant herds have been known to attack villages to drink this rice beer for which they have acquired a taste.

European beer

European-style beer was introduced in India by the British. By 1716,

pale ale Pale ale is a golden to amber coloured beer style brewed with pale malt. The term first appeared in England around 1703 for beers made from malts dried with high-carbon coke, which resulted in a lighter colour than other beers popular at th ...

and Burton ale were being imported to India from

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. To protect the beer from spoiling during the long journey, it had to have high alcohol content and

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...

were added to it. This led to the invention of India pale ale in about 1787 by Bow Brewery. In 1830, Edward Abraham Dyer, father of Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer of

Jallianwala Bagh massacre The Jallianwala Bagh massacre (), also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919. A large crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, British India, during the annual Vaisakhi, Baisakhi fair to protest aga ...

, travelled to India and set up India's first brewery, the Kasauli Brewery. It produced the beer brand Lion, which is still available. In 1835,https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/PiKqdbm2wPGiQnCisfynmK/1800s-Solan-No-1--The-accidental-legacy.html
The Mint, 13 Aug 2012. the beer production at Kasauli brewery was moved to Solan Brewery at

Solan Solan is a city in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and the district headquarters of Solan district. It is located south of the state capital, Shimla. Solan has an average elevation of . The city is situated between Chandigarh (joint cap ...

in a swap when Kasauli Brewery started producing India's first single malt whisky, the Solan No. 1. In 1885, it was incorporated as Dyer Breweries. Later, more breweries were built across India, Burma and Sri Lanka, and added to it. Later, H. G. Meakin bought the Solan brewery and added some more. It came to be known as Dyer-Meakin & Company. By the year 1882, there were 12 breweries in India in all, including one in

Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

. In the year 1892, 4,831,127 gallons of beer were produced in India. Out of this 2,748,365 gallons were purchased by

commissariat A commissariat is a department or organization commanded by a commissary or by a corps of commissaries. In many countries, commissary is a police rank. In those countries, a commissariat is a police station commanded by a commissary. In some a ...

and rest was left for consumption by the civilian population. But, British soldiers reportedly did not like local beer and preferred imported beer which they were able to acquire cheaply. In 1967 the price was only 6.5 rupees. In 1937,

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

was separated from India and the company lost its Burmese assets. The company was restructured and renamed as Dyer Meakin Breweries. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange. In 1949, N. N Mohan acquired all the assets of Dyer Meakin Breweries and added a few more units. In 1967, the company was renamed to

Mohan Meakin Mohan Meakin is a large group of companies which started with Asia's first brewery incorporated in 1855 (but established much earlier) by Edward Dyer (father of Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre) ...

Breweries.

Modern

Established in 1969, Lilasons Breweries in Madhya Pradesh is known for their strong beer brand Khajuraho. It is considered the first super-strong beer brand in India. In recent years, foreign companies have been entering India and acquiring local businesses. In 1999, United Breweries floated a subsidiary called Millennium AlcoBev. It was a joint venture between United Breweries, UK-based

Scottish & Newcastle Scottish & Newcastle plc was a brewing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, which expanded from its home base to become an international business with beer volumes growing almost tenfold. The company was listed on the London Stock Exc ...

and Ravi Jain. In 2000, SABMiller India entered Indian market by acquiring Narang Breweries. In June 2001, it acquired the Mysore Breweries. In 2003, SABMiller India acquired 50% stake in local Shaw Wallace's beer business. In November 2002, SABMiller India acquired Rochees Breweries. In May 2005, SABMiller India acquired Shaw Wallace's beer assets for crore. Also in 2005, Carlsberg entered India with its local venture, South Asian Breweries. Also in 2005, Singapore-based

Asia Pacific Breweries Heineken Asia Pacific, formerly Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) is a Singaporean brewery company. Founded in 1931 as a joint venture between Heineken International and Fraser and Neave, it was renamed Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) in 1989 and given i ...

acquired a 76% shared the local Aurangabad Breweries. In late 2005, UK-based

Cobra Beer Cobra Beer is a beer brand manufactured in the United Kingdom. The group's primary product is a Beer#"Premium"_beers, premium beer with an alcohol strength of 4.5% by volume (originally 4.8%). The beer was founded in 1989 by Karan Bilimoria, Bar ...

entered the Indian market by beginning negotiations with in December. In 2006, SABMiller India acquired Foster's Indian assets. In February 2006,

Anheuser-Busch Inbev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian Multinational corporation, multinational Drink industry, drink and brewing company, brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. It is the largest brewer in the world, and in 20 ...

, the makers of

Budweiser Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, a brand of Belgian company AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States. Budweiser is a filte ...

, entered a partnership with Hyderabad-based Crown Beers. Also in 2006, Ravi Jain divested his holdings in Millennium AlcoBev. In 2010, United Breweries consolidate its assets, merging Millennium AlcoBev and other units back into itself. In 2011, United Breweries announced that they would produce the

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer (), or simply Heineken (), is a Dutch pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 February 1864, ...

brand beer in India. In 2012 after India allowed foreign-direct investment from Pakistan, Murree Beer representatives stated that they were seeking to export their brand to India. The Rawalpindi-based Murree Beer, which was established in 1861, has been trying to enter the Indian market since 2003. "Oktoberfest Goa", a beer, food and

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

festival, has been held every year since 2011 in

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

. The

Competition Commission of India The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is the chief national competition regulator in India. It is a statutory body within the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and is responsible for enforcing the Competition Act, 2002 to promote competition a ...

found United Breweries Limited (UBL), Anheuser Busch InBev India Ltd. (AB InBev) and Carlsberg India Private Limited (CIPL) guilty of price fixing and imposed fines in September 2021. UBL and CIPL were fined and respectively, while AB InBev was given a 100% benefit of reduction in penalty.

Brands and breweries

The largest selling India beer brand is

Kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species living in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

. Other major Indian brands are Hunter, Kalyani, Haywards, Knock Out and Zingaro. The largest brewery in India by market share is the

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

based United Breweries. Other major breweries in India are Carlsberg, SABMiller India, B9 Beverages (Bira 91) Som Distilleries and Breweries Ltd and Anheuser-Busch Inbev. In 2013, United Breweries had a market share of 55% and SABMiller India had a share of 23%. SABMiller India owns the Haywards brand, KALS breweries owns Foster's Indian units. Although imported beer brands like,

Corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus or disease responsible for the COVID-19 ...

Singha Singha (; RTGS: ''Sing'') is a pale lager beer manufactured in Thailand by the Singha Corporation Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of its parent company, Boon Rawd Brewery. Singha was first brewed in 1933, and in 1939 officially endorsed by King Rama ...

, Tsingtao,

Victoria Bitter Victoria Bitter (VB) is a lager produced by Carlton & United Breweries, a subsidiary of Asahi, in Melbourne, Victoria. It was first brewed by Thomas Aitken at Victoria Brewery in 1854 and is one of the best selling beers in Australia. History ...

Geist ''Geist'' () is a German noun with a significant degree of importance in German philosophy. ''Geist'' can be roughly translated into three English meanings: ghost (as in the supernatural entity), spirit (as in the Holy Spirit), and mind or int ...

and , are available in India, they are costly due to high import duties reaching up to 100%. Carlsberg's Tuborg Booster Strong brand (8% ABV) and Anheuser-Busch Inbev's Budweiser Magnum (6.5% ABV) are sold only in India. United Breweries' Kingfisher Strong (8% ABV) is India's best selling brand. Some of the major beer brands in India by market share are:

Craft beer

Modern craft beer came relatively late to India. The first Indian brewpubs opened in Pune (Doolally) and

Gurgaon Gurgaon (), officially named Gurugram (), is a satellite city of Delhi and administrative headquarters of Gurgaon district, located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest ...

Ahirwal Ahirwal is a region spanning parts of southern Haryana, north-eastern Rajasthan, and South-Western Delhi The region was once a small principality based from the town of Rewari and controlled by members of the Ahir community from around the time ...

(Howzat) in 2009. Also around the same time, India's first bottled craft beers were launched by the Martin Judd's brewery in Maharashtra, and Australian owned "Little Devils" in Ghaziabad. While the bottling ventures proved short-lived, and closed down within a years time, brewpubs have since become a successful format and common sight, especially in India's large cities. In 2019, India counts more than 200 brewpubs, of which about 60 each are located in Bangalore and Gurgaon, respectively. Bottled Indian craft beer became available again after a long break in 2016, when the White Rhino brewery opened in Gwalior, and soon after started selling their beers in Haryana and Delhi. Since then, new packaging craft breweries have opened in Bangalore and Goa. Due to restrictive Indian liquor manufacturing laws, some entrepreneurs have chosen to manufacture their beer outside of India. Among them was Bira91, an Indian

witbier Wheat beer is a top-fermented beer which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are German and Belgian ; other types include Lambic (made with wild yeast), Berliner Weisse (a ...

brand, which became extremely popular across the country, and has since shifted its production back to India.

Sales and consumption

In 2014-15 financial year, the beer market in India grew by 6% to 22.3 million hectolitres (or to 286 million cases). On the one hand, this rate is twice faster as compared to the 2013-14-year; on the other hand, it is half than the average rate over the preceding decade. The per capita consumption of beer is 1.6 litres. Due to the increase in disposable income and discerning consumers, the potential is high. The industry has been growing over the last few years and this growth is attributed to the growing middle class. The increased consumption has raised the price of barley in India. Indians prefer stronger alcoholic drinks, like

whiskey Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from Fermentation in food processing, fermented grain mashing, mash. Various grains (which may be Malting, malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, Maize, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky ...

, over beer, because it is cheaper and has a higher alcohol content. Indians mostly consume stronger brews. Strong beer with alcohol content in the 5-8% range accounted for 83% of the total beer sales in 2012. Beer accounts for only 5% of the total alcohol consumed. The low consumption is attributed to high cost, availability and stringent regulations.

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

and

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

are the only two state in India which has a lower tax rate for beer compared to other alcoholic beverages. Maharashtra has the highest tax on alcohol, at 43%. The latest entrant into the Indian market is the Bira 91 brand with its headquarters in Delhi, making a steady rise in the beer market. Domestic-market beer is packaged in 650-ml bottles and come in cases of 6. Export-market beer come in 330-ml Standard European or 625-ml (22 imp. oz.) bottles. They come in mild (4% to 5% ABV) and strong (6% to 8% ABV) lagers.