Russia’s premium wine maker Boris Titov is entering into a JV with an Indian partner to set up a unit near Delhi to produce sparkling wine.
“I was recently in India to discuss a business plan. I have received a positive response. We have identified a land near New Delhi to set up a unit to produce sparkling wine. Cost of production in India is not very high and that is a big incentive,” Titov told ET.
“India is a growing market for beverages and the Indian economy is performing exceptionally well. I have had very positive feedback from my visit to India,” he said.
Titov is no stranger to India, having spent some of his childhood years here in the 1970s when his father was posted in a Russian data company that preceded the introduction of computers in India.
Titov, who is also Russian President’s commissioner for entrepreneur’s rights, indicated that Russian business enterprises are trying to utilise accumulated rupees in Indian banks to launch initiatives here. Debt that India owes to Russia dating back a few decades may also be utilised by Russian companies to set up production facilities in India.Titov also hinted that the Russian Sberbank chapter in India is trying to utilise accumulated rupees under rupee-rouble trade to invest in Bangladesh, which is the second biggest market in South Asia after India. This is also possible due to trade in national currencies between India and Bangladesh.During the Soviet era, Abrau-Durso sparkling wines were an acclaimed product. Anton Frolov-Bagreev, a famous scientist and winemaker, was the pioneer of Charmat, the new manufacturing method which allowed preserving quality with large-scale production. The recent history and the rebirth of the estate started in 2006, when SVL Group headed by Titov acquired it. Titov was devoted to the idea of preserving and multiplying the traditions of the local winemaking and of the Russian sparkling wine.
Titov is not the only one eyeing a JV with an Indian firm. Rusal, the world’s second biggest aluminium producer, is also exploring the possibility of entering into a JV in the country. “India has huge bauxite deposits and currently we are studying market prospects for entering into a JV in India. The proposed initiative will also help to reduce carbon footprint,” Oleg Deripaska, promoter of Rusal, told ET.
Deripaska said India and Russia are engaged in reducing carbon footprint through civilian nuclear industry. Another sector which has attracted Deripaska’s attention is Ayurveda and traditional medicines, and he said he is considering possibilities of matchmaking between Russia’s traditional medicine and Ayurveda.
