Carlsberg India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Danish brewer Carlsberg, will set up two more breweries to tap the growing market in southern India, a top company official said. The company already set up four greenfield breweries two years ago in the country and markets all-malt three beer brands from its global portfolio – Carlsberg, Okocim Palone and the recently-launched Tuborg.

“We plan to set up two more greenfield breweries in south India to tap the growing clients in the southern states with a total investment of Rs 150 crore in the next financial year,” Pradeep Gidwani, managing director, Carlsberg India, told Financial Chronicle.

At present, the company has four breweries in Alwar in Rajasthan, Paunta Sahib in Himachal Pradesh, Aurangabadin Maharash-tra and Hooghly in West Bengal. Till date, it has invested over Rs 250 crore in India.

“We have been growing fast and the response to our brands is overwhelming. About 55 per cent of the beer is consumed in the south with the largest guzzlers in Andhra Pradesh, followed by Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Rajasthan,” Gidwani said.

Last year, 180 million cases of beer were sold in the country. The beer market was growing at 8 to 10 per cent year-on-year, he added.

Carlsberg is a relatively new player in India but has cornered 12 per cent market share in Kolkata, 10 per cent in Delhi NCR and 5 per cent in Maharashtra, Gidwani said. The company plans to have over 10 per cent of the total market share across brands by the end of financial year 2009-2010 and 15 per cent in two years.

Gidwani said at present the company produced 900,000 hectolitres of beer per annum across brands and its optimum production capacity in the country was about 1.5 million hectoliters per annum. “From next year, we plan to scale up production capacity expansion in each of our four breweries,” he said.

Beginning with Pune on Wednesday, the company has lined up 20 cites in the country to promote its brands with a series of ‘Men Can Cook’ with Carlsberg beer cookery events.