India: Carlsberg appoints new India managing director

Danish brewer Carlsberg on May 16 appointed Nilesh Patel as the managing director and vice president of the company, ETRetail.com reported.

Patel will replace Michael N. Jensen who will assume the role of managing director at Carlsberg in Myanmar to oversee the Thailand operations. Michael had joined Carlsberg India in 2012 and was promoted to managing director in 2014.

“Michael N. Jensen has moved to Myanmar as the Managing Director to replicate the success of India in this very important market for Carlsberg Group. He was instrumental in delivering healthy top-and bottom-line growth over the last three years,” said the company statement.

Prior to his new role, Patel was the senior vice president and president (Asia Pacific region) of cosmetic brand Avon. He has over 30 years of work experience and has served as the managing director and chairman of Heinz India.

In beer, UB dominates with 52% market share but Carlsberg, the maker of Tuborg strong beer, has gained the most with 15% share in the last five years giving stiff competition to SABMiller which is at about 20%.

According to a recent report by Ambit Capital, SABMiller has been losing market share to Carlsberg, which has followed an aggressive on-premise marketing of Tuborg and Carlsberg brands in larger cities through price promotions and branding exercises.