Spirits major Diageo India, which controls United Spirits Ltd, on August 16, said it's investing Rs 45 crore for its state-of-the-art craft and innovation hub in Ponda, Goa.

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The craft and innovation hub, spread across four acres, will offer robust, end-to-end capabilities addressing various requirements such as distillation capabilities for malt, gin and rum; maturation infrastructure and blending capability for spirits; an automated bottling and packaging line for craft spirits and a modern warehouse for incoming and finished products.

In addition, it will host a one-of-a-kind Consumer Experience Centre. When fully operational, with a capacity of 20,000 cases a month, the hub will employ 250 people locally.

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The craft and innovation hub was inaugurated by Subhash Shirodkar, Goa’s Minister for Water Resource Development, Cooperation and Provedoria.

The hub leverages 100 percent renewable energy for distillation. In addition, more than 40 percent of the operations are powered by in-house renewable electricity generated by the solar plant and steam turbine, it said.

Over the last two years, the distillery has made a significant improvement of over 45 percent in water use efficiency through various water conservation, process improvement, and utility efficiency processes, it added.

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Hina Nagarajan, Managing Director, and Chief Executive Officer, Diageo India, said the hub will serve as an incubator for select startups, providing them with sophisticated infrastructure to build their offerings.

The company recently acquired a strategic minority stake in Goa-based, emerging craft-gin company, Nao Spirits & Beverages Private Ltd, the makers of award-winning brands Hapusa and Greater Than.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)