COBRA BEER HEADS EAST

Karan Bilimoria, the Indian founder of Britain’s Cobra Beer, plans to take the company east to his native town of Hyderabad, India where he will set up a brewery. Karan is among a growing number of entrepreneurs who are looking to India as a potential economic superpower and hopes to begin production within the next 18 months. Although Cobra will continue to brew beer in Bedford, England, they will use their new brewery in India to serve what they expect to be one of the fastest growing markets in the world. Karan views this as an opportunity to improve the UK and India’s trade relations. According to the Times, Karan “said that British businesses were not doing enough to foster good trading relationships with India and risked losing out to countries such as the United States, Belgium and Germany. [Trade with India] represents about 1% of Britain’s overseas trade. But India is the world’s second largest country and one of the fastest growing economies.”