United Spirits Limited, abbreviated to USL, is an Indian alcoholic beverages company, and the world's second-largest spirits company by volume. It is a subsidiary of Diageo, and headquartered at

UB Tower UB or Ub may refer to: Organizations *Basel University Library, german: Bibliothek der Universität Basel, abbreviated UB. *UltimateBet, a defunct online poker site *Ungermann-Bass, a computer networking company in California *United Biscuits, a ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. USL exports its products to over 37 countries. According to the official website of the company, as of March 2013, USL has more than 140 liquor brands, of which 15 brands each sell more than one million cases annually while 3 brands each sell more than 10 million cases annually.

History

The company originated as a trading company called McDowell and Company (also known as McDowell & Co, McDowell or McDowell's), founded in India in 1826 by Angus McDowell, a Scot. He set up a

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...

near Fort St. George, Madras (now

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

). The company imported liquor, tobacco products, and other consumer goods into India to serve the needs of British people stationed there. McDowell & Company Limited was incorporated as a company in 1898, with an initial capital of as 4,000

preferred shares Preferred stock (also called preferred shares, preference shares, or simply preferreds) is a component of share capital that may have any combination of features not possessed by common stock, including properties of both an equity and a debt ins ...

and 4,000

common shares Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other Co ...

of each. The company's principal shareholders were A.M. Hooper, G.D. Coleman, and G.A. Ruppell. The Vittal Mallya-run United Breweries Group bought McDowell and Company in 1951. In 1959, Mallya established the company's first distillery at

Cherthala Cherthala, , (formerly Shertalai, Shertallai or Shertallay) is a Municipal town and a Taluk located at National highway 66 in the district of Alappuzha, in the state of Kerala, India. Cherthala is the satellite town and industrial hub of Al ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

on the banks of the

Vembanad lake Vembanad is the longest lake in India, as well as the largest lake in the state of Kerala. The lake has an area of 230 square kilometers and a maximum length of 96.5 km. Spanning several districts in the state of Kerala, it is known as Ve ...

. McDowell's began bottling Bisquit Brandy and Dorville French Brandy, from imported

concentrate A concentrate is a form of substance that has had the majority of its base component (in the case of a liquid: the solvent) removed. Typically, this will be the removal of water from a solution or suspension, such as the removal of water from ...

s, becoming the first company to manufacture

Indian Made Foreign Liquor Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) is the official term used by governments, businesses and media in India to refer to all types of liquor manufactured in the country other than indigenous alcoholic beverages such as feni, toddy, arrack and othe ...

(IMFL). The company opened India's first

distillation Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heat ...

plant to manufacture extra neutral alcohol (ENA) at Cherthala in 1961. The plant began bottling products for Herbertsons Limited of the Anglo Thai Group that same year. The company launched Golden Grape Brandy, its first original product, in 1962. The company launched McDowell's No.1 Brandy in 1963–64 when their contract with Herbertsons expired. In the early 1960s, the company acquired Carew & Co and Phipson & Co, manufacturers of rum, gin, and other hard liquors. in 1963–64. The company launched

McDowell's No.1 McDowell's No.1 is an Indian brand of Distilled beverage, spirits manufactured by United Spirits Limited (USL), a Diageo, Diageo Group company. It is USL's flagship brand and the largest Umbrella brand, umbrella spirits brand in the world, compr ...

whisky in 1968, and commissioned new distilleries in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

, Ponda (

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

), and Hathidah (

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

) over the next few years. In the late 1970s, distilleries were acquired in

Udaipur Udaipur () ( ISO 15919: ''Udayapura''), historically named as Udayapura, is a city and municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarter of Udaipur district. It is the historic cap ...

Alwar Alwar (Pronunciation: �lʋəɾ is a city located in India's National Capital Region and the administrative headquarters of Alwar District in the state of Rajasthan. It is located 150 km south of Delhi and 150 km north of Jaipur. ...

, Mirganj, and

Serampore Serampore (also called ''Serampur'', ''Srirampur'', ''Srirampore'', ''Shreerampur'', ''Shreerampore'', ''Shrirampur'' or ''Shrirampore'') is a city of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarter of the Srirampore ...

, and a plant was built in

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

. The company bought out Herbertsons in 1973. Mallya's son,

Vijay Mallya Vijay Vittal Mallya (born 18 December 1955) is an Indian businessman, former politician and fugitive. He is the subject of an extradition effort by the Indian Government to return him from the UK to face charges of financial crimes in India. T ...

, took over as director of McDowell's the same year, and assumed chairmanship of UB Group and McDowell's after Vittal Mallya died in 1983. McDowell's moved its headquarters from Madras to

in 1987. The company established a technical centre for product and process development research in Bangalore in 1989. McDowell's No.1 Rum was launched in 1990. McDowell's acquired the spirits business and manufacturing facility of Forbes Campbell & Company Limited. McDowell's formed United Distillers India Limited, India's first joint venture in the alcoholic beverages industry, with

United Distillers United Distillers was a Scottish company formed in 1987 from combining the businesses of Distillers Company and Arthur Bell & Sons, both owned by Guinness. The company owned six single malt Scotch brands, which were relaunched as the ''Classi ...

of the United Kingdom in 1991–92. McDowell's Signature whisky was launched in 1994. In 1995, Carew Phipson Limited, Consolidated Distilleries Ltd and several other companies were merged into McDowell's. The company was incorporated as McDowell Spirits Ltd in 1999. The name was changed to McDowell & Company Ltd on 1 April 2000. McDowell Alcobev became a wholly owned subsidiary of McDowell & Company in 2002. In the same year, the company acquired Phipson Distilley, McDowell International Brands Ltd, and most of Triumph Distilleries & Vinters Pvt Ltd. McDowell launched Derby Special Whisky in 2003 and Old Cask rum in 2004. On 21 March 2005, McDowell & Company entered into an agreement with Jumbo World Holdings Limited (JWHL) in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

to acquire Shaw Wallace. The board of Shaw Wallace approved the merger of the company with USL and fixed the appointed date of the merger as 1 April 2008 subject to approvals. In 2006, McDowell & Co Limited, Herbertsons Limited, Triumph Distillers and Vintners Private Limited, Baramati Grape Industries India Limited, Shaw Wallace Distilleries Limited and four other companies are merged to form United Spirits Limited. Bouvet Ladubay, subsidiary of France-based

Taittinger Taittinger () is a French wine family who are famous producers of Champagne. The estate is currently headed by Vitalie Taittinger, who is the daughter of Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger (born 1953), a member of the consultative committee of the Banq ...

was acquired, the same year. The UB Group purchased

Whyte & Mackay Whyte & Mackay is a company producing alcoholic beverages based in Glasgow, Scotland. It is owned by Emperador Inc. (a subsidiary of the Alliance Global Group). History Charles Mackay (1850–1919) and James Whyte founded a company as whisky ...

in May 2007 for £595 million. USL also acquired Liquidity Inc., makers of Pinky Vodka, in 2007. USL launched Black Dog 18 YO and Four Seasons Barrique Reserve in 2009–10, and McDowell's No 1 Platinum, 100% grain based whisky, in 2011. On 27 May 2013, Diageo acquired a 10% stake in United Spirits at a cost of . It also separately acquired an additional 58,668 shares for 85,778,082. On 4 July 2013, Diageo bought an additional 14.98% of the company for . Diageo acquired an additional 21.77 million shares at a cost of per share in an off-market-deal from United Spirits' promoters, raising its holdings to 25.02 per cent of the company. Following that purchase, Diageo held 36.3 million shares in USL, acquired at a cost of , making it the largest shareholder. Under pressure from Diageo, some substantial changes to the management structure of the firm began to take place in 2013. In 2014, Diageo's share holdings rose to 54.8% of USL. In early 2014, Whyte & Mackay, which had been purchased by UB Group in 2007, was sold to

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

-based Emperador for £430 million. On 5 November 2017, the

Paradise Papers The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, from the newspaper'' Süddeutsch ...

, a set of confidential

electronic document An electronic document is any electronic media content (other than computer programs or system files) that is intended to be used in either an electronic form or as printed output. Originally, any computer data were considered as something inter ...

s relating to

offshore investment Offshore investment is the keeping of money in a jurisdiction other than one's country of residence. Offshore jurisdictions are used to pay less tax in many countries by large and small-scale investors. Poorly regulated offshore domiciles have ser ...

, revealed that United Spirits with three other subsidiaries based in the UK were allegedly involved with diverting funds amounting to $1.5 billion.

Technical centre

The USL technical centre was opened in 1989 in Bangalore, and is recognised by the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR) as an in-house

Research & Development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

laboratory.

United Spirits brands

USL manufactures Scotch whisky,

Indian whisky most distilled spirits labelled as "whisky" in India were a form of Indian-made foreign liquor, commonly blends based on neutral spirits that are distilled from fermented molasses with only a small portion consisting of traditional malt w ...

, brandy,

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuriti ...

, gin and wine. ;Indian whisky * Antiquity * Bagpiper *

* McDowell's No.1 Platinum * McDowell's Single Malt * Royal Challenge *

Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a ...

;Scotch whisky * Black Dog ;Wine * Bouvet Ladubay * Four Seasons ;Vodka * Pinky *

Romanov The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova, was married to ...

* Vladivar * White Mischief ; Brandy * Honey Bee * McDowell's VSOP ;Rum * McDowell's No.1 Celebration ;Gin * Blue Riband ;Beer *

Kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

Distillery locations

USL owns several distilleries throughout India, and also owns one unit in Nepal. Besides these, USL also has several contract and associate distilleries in India, and one in Nepal. ;Operational USL owned units * Malkajgiri,

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and 3 ...

* Nacharam,

* Bethora- Ponda, Goa * Gopalpur,

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

* Kumbalgodu,

, Karnataka * Aurangabad, Maharashtra *

Baramati Baramati ( aːɾamət̪iː is a city, a tehsil and a municipal council in Pune district in the state of Maharashtra, India. The city is about 100 KM (62 miles) southeast of the city of Pune and about 250 KM from Mumbai. Baramati is locat ...

, Maharashtra * Nasik, Maharashtra *

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

, Rajasthan * Nimapara,

* Pioneer Distillery, Nanded, Maharashtra * Rosa,

Shahjahanpur district Shahjahanpur district is a districts of Uttar Pradesh India. It is a part of Bareilly division. It was established in 1813 by the British Government. Previously it was a part of district Bareilly. Geographically the main town is Shahjahanpur w ...

, Uttar Pradesh *

Asansol Asansol is a (Tier-II) metropolitan city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the second largest and most populated city of West Bengal and the 33rd largest urban agglomeration in India. Asansol is the district headquarters of Paschim Ba ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

;Contract and associate units * Rhizome Distilleries Pvt. Ltd (

) * Esveear Dist (Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh) * Continental Distillery (

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises N ...

, Andhra Pradesh) * North East Distilleries Pvt Ltd (

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

) * Surma Distillery Pvt Ltd (

Silchar Silchar is a city and the headquarters of the Cachar district of the state of Assam, India. It is located south east of Guwahati. It was founded by Captain Thomas Fisher in 1832 when he shifted the headquarters of Cachar to Janiganj in Silchar. ...

, Assam) * M T M Wines & Bottlers Pvt Limited (Naharlagun,

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares ...

) * Chitwan Blenders & Bottlers Pvt Ltd (Bihar) * Salson Liquors Pvt Ltd (Bihar) * Aegis Beverages (P) Ltd ( Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh) * Khemani Distilleries Pvt Ltd ( Daman) * Saraya Industries Ltd (

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

) * Mandovi Distilleries & Breweries Pvt Ltd (Goa) * A B Sugars Ltd (Haryana) * Sir Shadilal Distillery & Chemical Works (Haryana) * Trishul Bottlers ( Jammu and Kashmir) * Ajantha Bottlers & Blenders Pvt Ltd (Ranchi, Jharkhand) * Ambient Liquors Pvt Ltd (Jharkhand) * Karnataka Breweries & Distilleries Ltd (Bangalore, Karnataka) * Seven Seas Distillery Pvt Ltd ( Mannuthy,

Thrissur Thrissur (), formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the third largest urban agglomeration in Kerala after Kochi and Kozhikode, and t ...

, Kerala) * Ajantha Distilleries (

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nagpur is projected to ...

, Maharashtra) * Rainbow Distilleries Pvt Ltd (Nagpur, Maharashtra) * Jubilant Organosys Limited (Pune, Maharashtra) * Ravi-Kumar Distillery (Pondicherry) * Vinbros Dist (Pondicherry) * Mount Distillery (

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Silig ...

) * Golden Midas Dist (

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

) * Shiva Distillery ( Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu) * Gemini Distilleries (Tripura) Pvt Ltd (

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...

) * United Brothers Distilleries Private Limited (Arunachal Pradesh)k * Himalayan Distillery Pvt Ltd (Nepal)

References

External links

* {{Nifty 200 companies Distilleries in India Drink companies of India Manufacturing companies based in Bangalore Food and drink companies established in 1826 1826 establishments in British India Indian companies established in 1826 United Breweries Group Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange Indian companies established in 1999