United Spirits
 |
|
| Public | |
| Traded as | : : MCDOWELL-N |
| Industry | Alcoholic beverage |
| Predecessor | McDowell and Company |
| Founded | Fort St. George, Madras, Madras Presidency, British India (1826) |
| Founder | Angus McDowell |
| Headquarters | UB Tower, No. 24, Vittal Mallya Road, Bangalore, Karnataka, India |
|
Area served
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Worldwide |
|
Key people
|
Mahendra Kumar Sharma (Chairman) and Anand Kripalu (MD & CEO) |
| Parent | Diageo (54.8%) |
| Website | unitedspirits |
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 in Bangalore, Karnataka. 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.
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 near Fort St. George, Madras (now Chennai). 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 ₹8 lakh (US$12,000) as 4,000 preferred shares and 4,000 common shares of ₹100 (US$1.60) 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, Kerala on the banks of the Vembanad lake. McDowell's began bottling Bisquit Brandy and Dorville French Brandy, from imported concentrates, becoming the first company to manufacture Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). The company opened India's first distillation 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.
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