United Breweries Limited (UBL), India’s largest brewer and part of the HEINEKEN Group, is set to commission a new high-speed canning line at its Ellora Brewery in the Waluj MIDC industrial area of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra.

Representing a capital expenditure of ₹110 crore (approximately £10.1 million), the facility marks the brewery’s first dedicated line for metal packaging. Designed to run at speeds up to 40,000 cans per hour (cph), the line will rank among the fastest operating across UBL’s domestic manufacturing footprint.

The investment will complement Ellora’s existing glass bottling infrastructure, which currently maintains a total packaging output of up to 1.5 million cases per month. Installing automated metal packaging capability gives UBL greater operational flexibility to rebalance its overall packaging mix in response to shifting market demand.

Initial production on the line will focus on two-piece aluminium beverage cans for UBL’s core brand portfolio, including Kingfisher Strong, Kingfisher Premium, Bullet Strong, and London Pilsner.

The expansion reflects broader shifts across the Indian beer sector, where consumer preference continues to migrate towards aluminium cans. The increased volume capacity will support UBL’s ongoing strategy to drive portfolio premiumisation and capture growing regional demand for canned formats.

This project follows UBL’s commissioning of a similar canning line at its Nizam Brewery in Telangana in July 2026. Maharashtra represents a key consumption market for the group, making the localized filling infrastructure strategically significant for regional supply chain efficiency.