United Breweries Limited (UBL) will pump in Rs 304 crore to produce non-alcoholic beverages and energy drinks in its beer manufacturing unit at Naubatpur in Patna district to salvage it.

The section faces closure in the wake of the state cabinet decision not to renew annual licences of liquor manufacturing plants.

The group had earlier invested Rs 300 crore in the plant. A proposal submitted by the Bangalore-based company towards this purpose was approved by the State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) on Wednesday.

It includes capacity expansion of the existing beer plant for producing 50 lakh litres per annum of malt-based non-alcoholic beverages.

Talking about the approval, industries department principal secretary S. Siddharth told The Telegraph: "The investment proposal from UBL had come last month but we had held it back on grounds that it was for producing alcoholic beverages and the state cabinet on January 17 had decided not to renew licences given to liquor manufacturers from the financial year 2017-18."

"However, the cabinet had also clarified that it would allow the units to function if they produce non-alcoholic beverages. UBL accordingly modified its proposal and is fulfilling all the conditions. Hence we have approved it," Siddharth added.

The present beer manufacturing unit of UBL is located at Kopakala at Naubatpur Industrial Area and is spread across 42 acres.

The company invested Rs 300 crore to start production at the 10 lakh hectolitre plant in 2015 and employs around 400 people.

UBL senior manager for Jharkhand and Bihar MVA Usmani told The Telegraph: "Our company is interested in protecting the huge investment made at its Naubatpur unit. Accordingly, we had submitted a proposal to the industries department to keep pace with the changing times and prohibition in the state. We hope our endeavour in the state will succeed."

Sources in UBL, which produces Kingfisher beer that has around 52 per cent market share in the country, said the company has no non-alcoholic beverage in its kitty.

The company may either go on to develop new brands in this category or introduce Radler beverage owned by Dutch brewing giant Heineken, which comes in two varieties containing orange and lemon juice along with other natural ingredients, and does not contain any alcohol. Incidentally, Heineken is the single largest shareholder in UBL with 43.88 per cent stake.

Meanwhile, the SIPB also approved 65 other investment proposals worth around Rs 750 crore for setting up a variety of industrial units like e-rickshaws, corrugated sheets, food processing, diesel generators, biomass energy production, solar power, kitchen equipment, hotels and health care. Among the approved proposals is one submitted by Glocal Healthcare to set up 100-bed super specialty hospitals at Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur and Begusarai with an initial investment of Rs 39 crore.

An Assam-based company Udipta Energy & Equipment Pvt. Ltd is planning to invest Rs 30 crore to set up a solar power plant at Digri Pahari in Baunsi block of Banka.

Another entrepreneur has proposed to establish a biomass energy generating plant at a cost of Rs 135 crore in Kaimur.

UBL sources said that introducing Radler would be beneficial for UBL as it is already an established global brand, while for Heineken it would be another feather in its cap to have it produced and marketed in India.

"However, there is one obstacle in this. UBL has an agreement with Heineken for alcoholic beverages, but none for non-alcoholic beverages. However, if top bosses of both the companies want, this could be easily removed. The step would bring more revenues to both companies and save the big investment of UBL in Bihar, as it cannot dismantle and move it to any other place outside," an UBL source told The Telegraph.