India's largest beer maker United Breweries Ltd (UBL) is set to foray into the craft beer market by the end of the current financial year, said Shekhar Ramamurthy, managing director of the company on Monday.

Mirroring the optimism, UBL shares have gained 8 percent this month after a 60 percent rally in the last one year.

Ramamurthy spoke to CNBC-TV18 about the growth prospects for the beer industry and outlook for UBL.

The industry is showing growth but it would be in single-digits, Ramamurthy noted, adding that the months of April and May showed decent growth due to the low base effect. Last year sales were hurt following the government's ban to sell liquor on the state highways.

Besides Maharashtra and West Bengal, which are still leading in terms of higher prices, other states like Karnataka, UP, Odisha, Rajasthan are also showing decent growth for the industry, said Ramamurthy.

“Overall, FY19 should be a decent growth year for the industry and hoping that Maharashtra will also turnaround,” he said.While talking about the company's outlook, Ramamurthy said he expects UBL to grow better than the industry, however, he refrained from committing to a double-digit growth for the current and the next financial year.

Different states give different margins because of the duty structures and so it is important to have premium brands in the portfolio and have a strong share in higher margin states, said Ramamurthy, adding that UBL is ahead of its competitors and profitability because of the combination of the two.

Going forward the company expects significant contribution from its premium brands.

The company aims to maintain margins at around 16 percent levels and plans to introduce craft beer by the end of this financial year, said Ramamurthy.