Bira 91 in trouble? 250 employees seek removal of founder Ankur Jain, allege salaries due for 6 months: Key points

Hundreds of employees of B9 Beverages, maker of the popular Beer 91 craft beer, have approached the company’s board of directors demanding a change in leadership. Economic Times reported.

More than 250 employees approached the board and senior investors, including Japanese beverage company Kirin Holdings and Peak XV Partners, according to the report. Employees also demanded that founder Ankur Jain be removed from his management post.

It was reported that the request written in a petition was also directed to Anicut Capital, B9 Beverages’ largest credit provider. It was posted shortly after the company’s town hall in September.

The company has not yet responded to a question from Livemint.

According to the report, Ankur Jain and his family held 17.8% stake in Bira 91 as of June 2025. Kirin Holdings is the largest shareholder with a 20.1% share.

Why do Bira 91 employees want a leadership change?

according to MEAT In the report, the petition signed by the employees listed “corporate management failure, lack of transparency, delays in employee dues and salaries” as the reasons for demanding a leadership change.

B9 Beverages employees also claimed that the lawsuits filed by creditors “show that financial situations are deteriorating”, while the company has many outstanding payments to vendors and their demands are based on these reasons.

According to ET, a person said that almost all Bira 91 employees support this campaign.

Salaries stopped, TDS not deposited

Some employees quoted by ET said that their salaries have not been transferred to their accounts for six months and the refunds have been pending since November 2024.

As many as 50 employees alleged that B9 Beverages did not deposit their TDS in the last financial year, while the same has not been deposited for all employees this year.

One of the employees said that the last PF contribution was made in March 2024.

Salaries and back benefits of 500 employees are pending and approximately ₹50 crore, another employee told the newspaper. There were also numerous layoffs and exits.

B9 Beverages currently has 260 employees, the report said; this number is down from 700 last year.

Accepting the salary payment claim, Ankur Jain said, “It is true that our employees are constantly experiencing delayed payments. These vary from 3 to 5 months depending on the level of employees and include delay in tax payments.”

Bira 91’s founder reacted

Speaking to ET, Bira 91 founder Ankur Jain said the company was “not aware of any such petition to major shareholders”, adding that the board had also not received any such communication.

Jain also said that there was a ‘pause’ in production in September and he believes this will continue this month.

It said there had been “significant business disruptions” at B9 Beverages over the last 18 months, including a company name change, changes to its liquor policy and a delay in fundraising.

“These resulted in volume reduction in FY25, complete disruption of the company’s business and cash flow for several months and accumulation of overdue dues, including statutory dues, employee dues and vendor dues,” it said.