It is hard to find somebody who has served all the three bitter rivals of the Indian liquor mart: Vijay Mallya, Kishore Chhabria and the Jumbo Group, now controlled by Vidya Manohar Chhabria and her daughters.
Till you come across Amar Sinha, who took over as the CEO of the Kishore Chhabria-controlled BDA Distilleries earlier this week. He has done three stints with Shaw Wallace and now one each with Mallya and Kishore Chhabria. In between, he has also worked for wannabe liquor baron Lalit Khaitan of Radico Khaitan.
Starting off with Shaw Wallace's consumer products division (Aramusk soap, Chek detergent etc) in 1983, the 'Bihari babu' from Patna cut his teeth in the liquor business a few years later when he moved to Mallya's Herbertsons.
Though he was responsible for Herbertsons brands, like the awesome Bagpiper, in Bihar and Nepal, he was secretly eyeing a slot in Herbertsons' consumer products business -- it had a host of products under the Dipy's brand.
Soon, he was back in Shaw Wallace, this time in the liquor business. The FMCG bug was to bite him again shortly and this time he joined Smithkline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline).
His daughter's illness, however, forced him to shift base to Delhi where he was approached by Khaitan. Coming from a Kolkata-based Marwari family, Khaitan had just come out of a family split which saw Rampur Distillery, the country's largest distillery, come his way.
Khaitan was keen to expand his Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) business and asked Sinha to come on board. Though Sinha was a bit doubtful, after having served with Shaw Wallace, Herbertsons and Smithkline Beecham, Khaitan made him an offer he could not refuse.
It was at Radico Khaitan that Sinha made a big impact when he launched the 8PM whisky. It became the fastest brand to touch a million cases in the history of the Indian liquor industry. He was also responsible for re-launching the company's
Contessa rum and turning around its joint venture with Whyte & Mackay--he was subsequently appointed CEO of the joint venture company.
Even as he was planning to launch a premium whisky brand called Special Appointment for Radico Khaitan some time in 2000, Sinha was approached by the late Manu Chhabria to look after the liquor business of Shaw Wallace.
Meanwhile, Khaitan's son had joined the business and this led to some friction with Sinha. Soon, Sinha was on the rolls of Shaw Wallace.
Things went well for Sinha till April 2002, when Manu Chhabria died, and he ran into a confrontation with Komal Chhabria Wazir, Manu Chhabria's daughter. In a few months, he had put in his papers.
At this time, he was approached by Mallya who wanted Sinha to join his corporate headquarters in Bangalore. Sinha was reluctant because each of the three key lieutenants of Mallya--Vijay Rekhi, Ravi Jain and Deepak Roy--had, at one time or the other, been his boss. Mallya then asked Sinha to look after his international business.
Instead, Sinha chose to join Kishore Chhabria as an adviser. Over the last couple of months, he has been helping his new boss devise strategies to wrest control of Herbertsons from Mallya. Earlier in the week, Kishore Chhabria made him the CEO of BDA Distilleries. Sinha already has ambitious plans for BDA Distilleries.
First off the block is a foray into strong beer under the Officer's Choice brand. He has already tied up with Mohan Meakin's three breweries to source the beer.
(While at Radico Khaitan, Sinha had put together a blueprint for a foray into beer under the brand X, but it never saw the light of day.)
This will be followed by new brand launches in the white spirits category and ready-to-drink beverages.
Sinha has taken over BDA Distilleries at a time when Kishore Chhabria and Mallya are locked in a fierce fight over the control of Herbertsons -- BDA Distilleries, remember, is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Herbertsons.
What if Mallya wins the battle? Will it be the end of Sinha's latest innings? For all the dangers involved, Sinha looks smug: "Those chances are remote," says he. Does he know something we don't? With five rings on his fingers, you can't rule it out.
