Bira 91 says Mysuru brewery becomes India’s first net zero brewery

Craft beer brand Bira 91, backed by Sequoia Capital India, Sofina of Belgium, and Kirin Holding of Japan, said its Mysuru brewery has become India’s first net zero brewery.

Ankur Jain, chief executive and founder of Bira 91, told ET the move accelerates Bira 91’s ‘mission to zero’ plan to become India’s first net-zero beer company by 2025.

Jain said the neutrality in carbon emissions at the Mysuru brewery is leading to significant cost savings in manufacturing efficiency, with energy costs declining by 40-50%. “When the Kirin investment happened, we formed the B9 Kirin centre for sustainable growth; we formed a working group called project net zero and spent a year to study what could be possible,” he said.

B9 Beverages, which owns Bira 91, raised $70 million from a funding round led by Japanese beer company Kirin Holdings, and another $10 million from MUFG Bank over the past five months. Bira 91 also acquired alcobev retail chain The Beer Cafe last year to strengthen its play in pubs and taprooms and build a direct-to-consumer platform.

Hiromasa Honda, managing director at Kirin Holdings Singapore, said the Mysuru brewery becoming India’s first carbon-neutral beer manufacturing unit coupled with the soaring demand for Bira 91 indicated that “economic growth and social responsibility can work in harmony.”

The company said it identified four areas for its mission to zero objective including shifting to clean energy, reduction in energy consumption and water usage, and complete eradication of waste destined for landfills from all its breweries by 2025.