Dozens of former employees of B9 Beverages Ltd, maker of Bira 91 beer, staged a protest outside founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Ankur Jain’s residence in New Delhi’s Defence Colony on Sunday, alleging months of unpaid salaries and non-deposit of statutory dues even after exiting the company.
About 50 former staff gathered through the morning in what organizers described as a silent demonstration, saying delayed wages, pending provident fund deposits, and tax discrepancies continue to disrupt loan repayments, healthcare access, and household finances months after their exit from the company.
However, employees noted that the CEO, Ankur Jain, was not at his residence during the demonstration.
The group has also launched an Instagram page documenting employee grievances and the protest.
The protest underscores the severity of the financial and governance crisis at B9 Beverages, once among India’s fastest-growing craft brewers. What began as delayed salary payments in late 2024 escalated into halted production, large-scale exits and mounting statutory disputes—raising broader questions around startup governance, employee protections, and accountability in venture-backed firms.
Employees said repeated attempts to seek clarity on repayment timelines failed to yield firm commitments, prompting the decision to protest outside the promoter’s residence.
“There is no other place for us to protest, except outside his house,” one employee said.
Jain expressed regret over unpaid salaries. “Because of the unresolved financial situation of the company for the last several quarters, the distress, pain and anger of employees is completely understandable and we regret that employees and their families are suffering in this difficult situation,” he said.
Discussions with new investors are on and expected to close before the end of this fiscal year, Jain added.
Operations on pause
The protest comes amid a prolonged financial crisis that began in 2024 and intensified through 2025, marked by production disruptions, employee exits and stalled payments.
Beer production is learnt to have stopped from October 2025, and offices began shutting then, too. Former employees said company email servers are now largely inactive and offices appear vacant.
From its most recently available results, its revenue from operations in FY24 fell ₹638.5 crore, declining from ₹824.3 crore in FY23. Its losses surged to ₹748.8 crore, from ₹445.4 crore in FY23.
The Bira beer business is “on pause” since the third quarter of this fiscal, Jain said. "…there has been no capital infusion in the business from existing or new shareholders since April 2024. Dues of company employees, statutory dues (including employee related taxes) and vendors remain the same as it was in Q3FY26 and there is no change in the status of the same.”
He added that the company has been operating on an “extremely lean cost structure” and that there has been no significant expansion of employee-related or statutory dues during this period.
Unpaid dues
A former employee from the company’s IT department, speaking on condition of anonymity, said dues owed total nearly ₹25 lakh, including about eight months of unpaid salaries and provident fund contributions. The person added discrepancies in tax records prevented him from applying for a US visa as tax deducted at source payments were not reflected and salary slips for several months in 2025 were unavailable.
“I am not including provident fund and TDS into this. Provident fund due to me itself is ₹13 lakh. We, as a consortium of employees. have written hundreds of letters including to the prime minister's office as well as the labour ministry, but to no avail,” the employee said.
Jain disputed estimates circulating around employee statutory liabilities, saying the ₹100 crore figure cited in relation to such dues was inflated and that actual dues were “a small fraction” of those costs.
Another former senior employee, who worked at the company for nearly four years, said operational stress became visible internally well before exits began.
"From January 2025 there was complete turbulence and repeated assurances were made. We have been given false assurances for months and told each time that something will be done for us, but nothing has happened yet. Somehow, two months of salary were suddenly paid in June,” the employee added.
“My team members were suffering. Many seniors including myself collectively contributed ₹20,000 each from our savings for a few months just for survival of several lower level team members."
Funding strains
Jain founded B9 Beverages in 2015 and launched the Bira 91 brand in 2016 positioning it as a premium craft beer label targeting urban consumers. The company raised multiple funding rounds backed by investors including Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India), Anicut Capital, Sofina, and Kirin Holdings.
Its last fundraise was completed in June 2024 through a $25 million external commercial borrowing from Kirin as part of a $50 million round. However, investor concerns over mounting losses and delayed fundraising intensified through 2025.
Jain agreed in December in principle to step down from an operational leadership role following board and investor pressure to facilitate a potential capital infusion. A final transition agreement is expected to be concluded in March.
Statutory concerns
Around 900 employees previously worked at B9 Beverages, according to people aware of the matter, with nearly 400 roles phased out through 2025 as operations slowed. Roughly 80 employees are learnt to still be working without pay, including factory workers, leadership members and mid-management staff handling residual operations.
Former employees alleged provident fund and TDS amounts were deducted but not depositedSeveral also said company-sponsored medical insurance policies lapsed due to unpaid premiums. This could not be independently verified by Mint.
Jain said discussions with new investors are at an advanced stage and expected to conclude within the current fiscal year ending 31 March 2026, following which fresh capital may be infused to restart business operations and bring Bira 91 back to shelves and bars. He added that discussions with employees, creditors and vendors toward settlement of liabilities are expected in Q1 of FY27.