For a brand that once dominated urban India’s beer shelves with its quirky bottles and cheeky marketing, Bira 91’s near-disappearance was not caused by falling demand or rising competition. It was brought down by bureaucracy and a word. Literally.
Bira 91’s parent company, B9 Beverages, found itself in regulatory quicksand after it dropped the word “Private” from its legal name in preparation for a 2026 IPO. That one change, meant to signal corporate maturity, triggered a chain of compliance failures, a 4–6 month sales blackout, and an Rs 80 crore inventory wipeout. At its peak, Bira 91 was India’s fastest-growing beer brand. By mid-2024, it had virtually vanished from retail shelves.
From top shelf to no shelf
Founded in 2015 by Ankur Jain, Bira 91 became a poster child for India’s craft beer revolution, with a frothy mix of youth appeal, Instagram-ready branding, and distribution muscle. By FY23, it clocked Rs 824 crore in revenue, selling 9 million cases across 550 towns and 18 countries. The IPO buzz was real.
But in FY24, the company made what seemed like a routine administrative move: changing its name from “B9 Beverages Private Ltd” to “B9 Beverages Ltd.” Unfortunately, in the heavily regulated alcohol-beverage (alco-bev) sector, where state-wise excise rules reign supreme, this amounted to becoming a “new company” in the eyes of excise departments.
What followed was a bureaucratic avalanche. Because alcohol is a state subject under the Constitution, each state has its excise laws, labelling norms, and licensing regimes. Every state treated the new legal name as a different entity, demanding fresh label registrations and product approvals. With no grace period permitted, Bira 91 was forced to stop sales completely while scrambling to re-register products across markets. It was, quite literally, an existential crisis born out of a misplaced assumption about administrative ease.
An expensive hangover
Bira couldn’t legally sell its products for months, even as demand remained strong. The unsold stock, worth Rs 80 crore, had to be written off because the old labels no longer matched the legal name. Distributors withheld payments, retailers moved on, and competitors like Simba, BeeYoung, and White Owl seized the moment to pour themselves deeper into Bira’s hard-won markets. Sales volume crashed from 9 million cases to just under 7 million in FY24. Revenue dipped 22% to Rs 638 crore. Net losses spiralled to Rs 748 crore, exceeding the company’s total income.
Worse still, Delhi NCR and Andhra Pradesh, markets that together contributed over a third of sales, became completely inaccessible due to the re-registration delays. Warehouses gathered dust. Distributors backed off. Employees were reassigned, relocated, or laid off. From a team of 975, the headcount dropped to 500.
“It was catastrophic”
“Due to the name change, there was a 4–6 month cycle where we had to re-register labels and re-apply across states which resulted in literally no sales for several months despite demand,” founder Ankur Jain admitted. What’s in a name, indeed.
Salary delays began as early as November 2024. Resigned employees reportedly waited over 90 days for dues. Marketing teams were reabsorbed into sales roles in unfamiliar geographies, as reported by media outlets. Morale tanked. By mid-2024, large-format retail stores were reporting zero supply of Bira for six months straight.
Froth finds its fizz again?
To its credit, the brand is clawing back. As of July 2025, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh markets are back online, thanks to fresh licenses and new manufacturing partnerships. Haryana remains the last holdout. A Rs 100 crore rights issue has helped steady some cash flow, and BlackRock is reportedly in talks for a Rs 500 crore structured debt deal to buy out early investors.
There’s also been a boardroom reboot: a new CFO and senior leadership are in place, focused on operational efficiency. Q4 FY25 showed early green shoots, a 40% growth as per ET. The interview also quoted Jain on Bira 91 having to get reinstated in 27 states post the name change. But challenges remain: liquidity pressures, employee dues, and eroded brand salience. And perhaps most critically, Bira is now in the odd position of having to rebuild while rivals drink its market share.