The Oasis Group has leveraged its experience in the alcobev busines to grow its IMFL business.

The Oasis Group of Companies started with a humble beginning by estabtishing its first distilleryry unit near Indore in the year 2001 and. since then, The Group has had a remarkable growth and. has emerged as one of the fastest growing liquor companies with five ‘State of Art’ grain based distilleies and. five bottling units of its own with a collective grain spirit productian of approximately 20 crores bulk litres per annum. The core strength of the Group is its international quality grain neutral spirit and its Indian Made Foreign Liquor Brands which have won a number of international accolades, recognitions and awards. Promoted by the Malhotra Group its founder Chairman Late Shri Omprakash Malhotraji was a visionary and an entrepreneur with a sound foresight and his only son and the present ‘Chairman Emeritus’- Mr. Deep Malhotra carries with him rich expeience coupled with sharp commercial acumen, aggression and in-depth understanding of the alcohol industry. Mr. Deep Malhotra takes keen interest in mentoring and guiding the Senior Management and it is his zest and zeal, which has helped the organisation to reach the dizzy heights. A popular entrepreneur from Punjab Mr. Deep Malhotra in his pursuit to contibute to his home town Faridkot, entered politics and was elected from the Faridkot Constituency as MLA from 2012 to 2O17. A number of welfare measures and corporate social responsibility activities were carried out during his tenure in his constituency. While Mr. Malhotra is the guiding spirit of the business, his two sons Gauravh Malhtora and Gautam Malhotra infuse fresh energy into the business and helps him in the day to day running of the company. Today the Oasis Group is a growing conglomerate having diversified business operations in the field of distilleries, hospitality, exports, government contracts and diamond jewellery.

Mr Gauravh Malhotra -The eldest son of Mr. Deep Malhotra assists his father in the Punjab retail, wholesale. and distillery operations, while his younger brother assists his father in the Delhi and Haryana operations. Both Gauravh Malhotra and Gautam Mathotra take active interest and participation in new product launches, developing new markets, marketing and advertising and social media.

Mr. Satish Sood, a childhood associate of Mr. Deep Malhotra and Mr. Trilochan Singh both Directors of the company take active participation in the day to day affairs of the company and helps the company reach its organisational goals and key result areas.

Mr. Anit Vanjani – Chief Executiue Officer of the Group is a Chartered Accountant, Cost Accountant and Company Secretary by profession with more than 29 years of financial and commercial expertise, contributes to explore new and innovative areas and is the key person in the turn around of the Group. Mr. Vanjani has been instrumental in carrying the organisation to a.’New High’.

Mr. C.S. Biju Vasudevan – Group President is a post graduate in Management (Frorn IIM) and Economics and carries with him more than 29 years of liquor experience. He has been with the Group since its inception and is a strong pillar of the Group. He has been instrumental in conceptualising, designing and introducing a. number of international quality brands. He has an in-depth understanding about the pan India IMFL markets and is in close pursuit in making All Seasons Whisky a national brand.

In recognition of the Group’s commitment for exports especially to the African region, the Association of Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India (ASSOCHAM) has recently recognised and awarded two prestigious awards for the most outstanding achievememt in food processing and the second award for the top performing SME in India – Africa food processing sector.

According to Mr. Deep Malhotra, the production of ENA will also form an important part of the business because of the Indian government’s initiative to blend petrol with ethanol for economic and eco friendly reasons. Frorn a target of 5% blending the government has raised the bar to 2O%. This underlines a huge demand for ethanol in future. Mr. Deep Mahotra also adds that while the government is giving a fair price to the ethanol manufacturers, it would also save and protect the sugar mills from financial distress. Oasis Group has also received permission to set-up an ethanol plant using molasses. We are awaiting the environmental clearance and shall immediately proceed to commission the plant at the earliest.

The Group has recently launched its flagship brand All Seasons Connoisseurs Collection Reserve Whisky, OPM Triple Distilled Luxury Spirited Russian Vodka and Oasis London High Triple Distilled Luxury English Vodka. OPM Triple Distilled Spirited Luxury Vodka has already won 19 international awards and is fast catching up to be a leader in its segment. All Seasons Whisky is blended out of Imported ‘Vatted Malt Scotch’ sourced from Scotland, and has been a run away hit in all the markets it has been launched. Presently these brands have been launched in Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and is in the process of being launched in Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala in the coming few months.

Within a short peiod of three years, the Oasis brands have established itself amongst the top three IMFL brands in Kerala and last year the company has achieved a sale of more than 1.2 million cases. Last year the Group started supplying whisky and rum to the prestigious Canteen Stores Department for supply to its esteemed Indian Armed Forces.

The group has a judicious mix of technocrats and management experts who steer the company professionally.

GROWTH DRIVERS: Expansion and constant modernisation with an eye on operational efficiencies, which has helped to reduce power and fuel consumption, improve fermentation and distillation efficiency, international quality grain neutral spirit and value for money grain based whisky, vodka, brandy, gin and rum.

CORE STRENGTHS: Pan India distribution network concentrating on high quality products, delivery and consistency. Export of grain neutral spirit worldwide, undivided focus on key business areas and has a judicious mix of short and long term business plans.

FUTURE PLANS: Foraying into untapped domestic and overseas markets, doubling production capacity with the addition of a new State of the Art distitlery in U.P. and expansions at its Punjab, Haryana and. Madhya Pradesh distillery units, thereby doubling its spirit capacity and production of country liquor and IMFL.

GOAL: Increase the market share of its IMFL brands and double its turnover in next three years. Introduction of a ‘Value Scotch bottled in origin’ for its connoisseurs, pan India. The Oasis Group is all confident in taking a giant leap forward and face the challenges with its in-depth understanding of the markets and its confidence on its world class Indian Made Foreign Liquor brands by offering its connoisseurs value for money both in terms of quatity, price, and delivery.

Prasanna Natarajan, Founder, HipBar recounts his foray into Ecommerce after his stint of marketing his own brands in the IMFL segment.

How would you describe the Wallet for your drinks? HipBar is an RBI authorised mobile wallet that is intended for use by the legal permissible age consumer. Due to the nature of the digital currencies, it naturally lends itself to value additions in terms of remote identity and age verification, which are critical for the corollary payment and delivery services offered to liquor retailers. The fungibility of the digital currency, make it possible for HipBar to orchestrate a wide range of online collaborations and the opportunity for brands to participate in interesting consumer engagements in a digitally connected world.

What has been the progress made on the Hip Bar project till now? HipBar has made decent progress, since incorporation in 2015. After being in stealth mode for over two years, HipBar launched services in a small way in Bengaluru and Chennai. We have made advance developments in the non-consumer facing back-end technologies, and many of which is yet to hit mainstream. We are commercialising some of the solutions in the coming months.

What has been the response to Hip Bar from the industry and users? We have a fair share of the industry’s support by virtue of having over 75% of the relevant brands in the market being part of our platform. We are looking to engage and welcoming the remaining brands also. On the customers side, we have over 200,000 patrons who use HipBar in the markets we operate in and we are talking only about the pilot scale in which HipBar is functioning currently. On the fulfillment side, we have over 150 retailers who are part of our payment network. In addition, we have 200 riders delivering delight and drinks to customers in the city of Bengaluru.

What are the major problems faced from the State’s excise department? There are no major problems. Since the concept is new to India, it takes time for excise departments to process the information and start taking decisions. In any case, alcohol home delivery is not a priority area for them, but we present governments with a compelling use case. We believe in shaping their views to the reality of what’s going on around us in terms of digitisation and helping them to take the decision to support a concept like HipBar and make them feel reassured about it.

What is the nature of your tie-up with Diageo? Diageo India is an investor in HipBar and they hold 26% in the company. Diageo brands will be the first amongst equals on the platform. All brands which pay the platform fee will have access to the slots in the application and receive a bouquet of services from HipBar. Diageo India has committed to a certain volume of business independent of the investment, as an outcome of the volume commitment, they will be entitled to receive certain beneficial rates. Free market principles will apply for business conducted on HipBar. It is a platform of skill and not might. Every brand will have the same set of levers to drive business, and as such no unfair advantage is handed to Diageo India on the platform.

With Diageo’s involvement, will they be monopolising sale of their products Hip Bar? Not at all. There is no basis for such an apprehension. Diageo India understands technology, and have been gracious to understand our business and the need for it to be independent as a market place. They have world class brands, have a great franchise in India and don’t need to block anyone to win. All our brand partners who we work with us for over a year, know us to be fair and equidistant. We will continue to be just the same way.

Do you see the Hip Bar venture as the beginning of E-commerce in the alcobev space? E-commerce in the conventional sense is not possible for the category given the trade structure in India and that most governments are themselves a part of the food chain. As a business, the team at HipBar is building a healthy channel through which the industry (including the retailers) and consumers can come together for commerce and engagement in a safe and secure manner. We are creating the digital infrastructure for the industry to use for the last mile delivery and nothing more. We only want to bring in better efficiencies through technology and this enablement has a proven track record of bringing savings and dividends to those who adopt it.

How effective is the app likely to be in terms of actual sales on the ground? I don’t have a direct answer right now. In the technology world, ‘scale’ is the harbinger of all things good. After scale comes effectiveness and without it, there is no reason to exist. We are right now focussing on building scale, which is the logical first step. Effectiveness of the channel is yet to be quantified and can only come later.

How do you envisage the future of Hip Bar? We have taken the path of helping India drink wiser. We have said this before, and I say this again that our business interests will always be subservient to how HipBar is performing in the social sphere and if it is indeed bringing the intended benefits of technology to normalise the category and help people drink responsibly. It’s not good enough for us to see higher transactions bereft of positive social impact. We wish to grow carefully and diligently and hopefully play a meaningful part in the digital transformation of the beverage alcohol industry.