"Bud invents a beer only for India"
Stephen J. Burrows, president & CEO, Anheuser-Busch, Asia Pacific, was in Mumbai recently to announce the company's foray into the Indian market. He met BT's Deepti Khanna Bose to discuss his plans. Excerpts: 
How is Budweiser going to be positioned in India?
We're going to position it in the premium-mild segment, and price it at about Rs 68-70 for 750 ml and around Rs 38-40 for a pint. It's priced at just a touch above Foster's.
Tell us about Armstrong, which you're launching in India along with Bud…
India is a very unique market, because strong beers-like Armstrong-are the dominant category here. On an average, 60 per cent of the beer market is strong beer; in some pockets of India, this rises to 80 per cent. So we "invented" Armstrong just for this market. Armstrong, incidentally, is not available anywhere else.
What is the beer market in India like?
The beer-drinking market in India is still very small-only about 8 million hectalitres, which would make it smaller than the city of Chicago in terms of beer consumption. In China, the per capita consumption on average is about 23 litres per person; here it's only about 1 litre. It has grown at 20 per cent over the last 18 months but it needs to grow at double digits for a long time in order for it to become a significant beer industry.
