For years, India looked like a “maybe one day” market. Full of potential, but not yet a driving force. It now feels like a key country for all spirits. And while the headlines about tariffs and trade deals have the big whisky groups cheering, in my opinion there’s something more interesting happening in Indian gin.
By almost every metric, India is becoming a serious growth engine for the category. Given the scale of the numbers involved, it’s fair to say that India will be instrumental for gin over the next five to ten years.
Most importantly for drinkers and enthusiasts like myself, this isn’t only a story about multinationals hunting for volume as mature markets cool off. On the contrary. India’s continued momentum bodes well for the next wave of craft gin brands building on what’s already been proven.
And that’s where this report starts. Not with a recap of the early days, but with the understanding that the groundwork has already been laid.
The ascent of Goa-led pioneers like Greater Than and Stranger & Sons shifting gin from legacy to relevant has been well documented. The same goes for familiar names like Jaisalmer and Pumori.
They made gin feel current again domestically. They also made international markets look at India differently, not only as a destination for exports, but as a source of brands with real ambition.
Today, India is one of the most interesting gin markets because it is shaped by constraint and fast-evolving stories. Route-to-market complexity. Nascent brands. Changing demographics. Shifting attitudes and an increasing depth of quality offerings.
To make sense of it all, this report is intentionally written as a mosaic. Detailed sections. One angle at a time.
Read each or skip to the parts that grab your attention. The more you put together, the clearer the picture becomes.
India’s gin moment was a decade in the making, and belief mattered more than conditions.
One of the defining truths of the Indian gin scene is that this chapter doesn’t begin with a big conglomerate deciding gin was strategic. Or with a big imported brand suddenly dominating either.
It begins with founders, and that context matters.
The category was built from the ground up, bottle by bottle, menu by menu, state by state. It was built by Indian craft distillery founders. The big groups are arriving now because early pioneers proved there was something worth backing.
Vaniitha Jaiin, Founder & CEO of Revelry Distillery & Vanaha Gin, makes that point clearly: “The biggest misconception is that Indian gin exists because the market was ready for it. India has traditionally been a mass-consumption, whisky-dominated country. White spirits, and gin in particular, did not have an established drinking culture, flavour reference, or premium benchmark. So, the assumption that gin has grown here simply because of access to botanicals or rising incomes misses the reality on the ground.”
She continues by naming the real driver: grit.
“What has driven Indian gin is effort, not ease. Producers have had to work across multiple fronts at once: building liquids that can earn trust in a sceptical market, investing in process and quality before scale, and educating consumers who are only now learning to drink for flavour, balance, and experience rather than strength alone.”
That idea still reverberates today. And while Jaiin is speaking directly from her own experience with Vanaha Gin, it shows up again and again in conversations I have with producers trying to build something that lasts.
The question underpinning the category remains as simple as it ever has been. It remains just as hard to solve too. Can a gin built with integrity, purity, and depth can genuinely earn its place in India?
The data suggests it can. The lived reality proves it takes more work than most outsiders ever really see until they are in the thick of it.
The foundations are in place. Now the market decides what grows.
Gin remains a relatively small part of India’s overall spirits consumption, dwarfed by whisky, rum and country liquor. But its trajectory is clear. Market research consistently points to steady expansion.
Take the data from the global leader in beverage alcohol data and insights,IWSR, and study the numbers. They show why the Indian gin category can feel contradictory.
Over 2019–2024, gin volume in India grew at just +1% CAGR, largely because the pandemic hit hard. Volumes only fully recovered back to 2019 levels in 2024.
What frequently gets missed in analysis thereafter is that the next phase is less about whether gin grows, and more about what kind of gin grows.
There is clear evidence of premiumisation in the Indian gin market.
According to the IWSR from 2019–2024, gin in the standard price band and above (INR 2,820 per 75cl bottle or higher) grew at a +42% CAGR by volume, while gin in the value price band and below (INR 2,819.99 per 75cl bottle or lower) declined at -3%.
Despite that, value-and-below gin still accounted for over 75% of India’s gin market share in 2024, which shows just how dominant the mass tier remains even as premium accelerates.
Looking ahead, IWSR forecasts total gin volume growth of +2% CAGR from 2024–2029, driven primarily by standard-and-above gin climbing at +9% CAGR, while value-and-below is expected to remain flat at 0%.
In absolute terms, gin is still developing as a category in India and the cheap end of it still dominates numerically. In directional terms however, it’s one of the clearest indicators of how Indian drinking culture is shifting overall.
India isn’t the next anything. That’s exactly why it matters.
Abhishek Parameswaran, formerly the Chief Sales Officer for Nao Spirits and now RTC Head India & Middle East at William Grant & Sons contextualises the market well: “India is NOT a second China, or America, nor will it be. The premium and above spirits category in India addresses a LDA population with means and access of about 10 million at present, a number far below either of those countries.”
Explaining the cultural context and expectations Parameswaran continues: “Price sensitivity exists across price segments, even in ultra and luxe, with a very strong price to perceived value association.”
“While older generations of India consumers were and are brand (and taste!) loyalists, the current and future generations have a strong proclivity to experimenting across categories and picking up on global, mostly western, trends immediately.”
That last point is one of the clearest reasons gin has momentum right now.
Gin performs well in a culture of experimentation because it’s easy to trial. It’s mixable, sociable, and modern without demanding deep category knowledge. It gives younger consumers a way to signal taste and global fluency quickly.
But that same openness is also the risk.
A consumer who picks up Western trends fast can also move on fast. If agave spirits, or the next wave of premium aged spirits capture the cultural spotlight, gin can’t rely on novelty or ‘signal value’ to hold share. It has to earn repeat purchase by becoming part of a repertoire, not just a phase.
From the evidence I’m seeing, i believe that the clear change that has happened in the Indian market over the past decade is not just taste, but confidence. Not simply confidence to drink gin, but confidence to explore, compare, trade up, and keep switching. That, and confidence (and pride) in local brands being of merit.
For gin brands, that means the next five years won’t be defined by whether India “likes gin” or whether domestic brands can earn a reputation for quality.
That’s already happening. They’ll be defined by whether premium growth becomes durable rather than episodic, and whether brands can build meaning and availability inside a market that plays by its own rules.
Complexity is not a footnote, it is the system
To understand where Indian gin is headed, you must understand how alcohol is regulated across the country. India is not one market, it’s a patchwork. The closest comparison is the USA, not Australia or the UK.
Under the Constitution, alcohol sits with individual states, not the federal government.
Each state sets its own excise duties, licensing frameworks, pricing rules, label approvals and distribution models. Some operate open systems, others use state-run monopolies, and a handful enforce partial or total prohibition.
For gin brands, this means national scale is never automatic. A product approved in one state may require fresh filings, fees and commercial negotiation elsewhere. Moving stock across state lines can involve permits, compliance checks, and additional cost.
One SKU operating nationally equates to at least 20+ label variations.
The knock-on effect is felt by consumers too. Availability varies, pricing can shift sharply by state, and what looks like one national brand often behaves like a patchwork of local launches and state by state strategies.
And there’s a reason these systems don’t shift quickly. Excise revenue is a critical income stream for state governments, often contributing a material share of tax receipts. Autonomy is protected because the stakes are high.
The patchwork shapes strategy
This fragmentation doesn’t just slow brands down. It shapes how they are built. Growth happens selectively. States are prioritised based on premium traction, regulatory friction and route-to-market viability.
Compliance discipline, distribution literacy and cashflow planning become as important as liquid quality.
In this environment, storytelling alone will not save you. Operational competence is rewarded early, and mistakes are expensive.
That said, complexity isn’t the same as impossibility.
As Parameswaran put it to me, “I think the words India and “complexity” get thrown about a lot together, and while it is more complex than a lot of major markets, it shouldn’t be a deterrent to any brand owner worth their salt who has a clear vision for how they want to win the Indian consumer’s hearts and minds. Finding the right partners, knowing your numbers and having a willingness to learn and adapt are basic steps that new entrants need to follow, before even getting into brand and commercial strategy.”
Once you understand the system, the next question becomes more cultural: what has that system done to access, habits, and people’s sense of value?
For decades, Indian alcohol has been treated as a “sin good”. High taxation and tight distribution have had a predictable effect. In many places, drinkers didn’t “trade up” over time because they didn’t have consistent access to quality options at reasonable prices.
Instead, the market split. A premium tier that stayed relatively narrow, and a mass tier that often relied on local spirit or grey market supply to fill the gaps.
That’s why premiumisation in India can’t be read only through brand launches. Retail density matters. Licensing matters. The number of legal purchase points matters.
IWSR’s price-band split makes that tension clear. From 2019–2024, standard-and-above gin (INR 2,820+ per 75cl) grew at +42% CAGR, while value-and-below declined at -3%. And yet value-and-below still accounted for over 75% of market share in 2024.
This reality means that if premium brands want this growth to become durable, they need the system to catch up with the story.
They need better access and more visibility. And they must present better reasons for drinkers to trade up more than once.
In metro areas, there’s an expectation that access will improve as more premium stores and bar licences are granted. If that happens, it won’t just grow premium gin. It will start to change how value is perceived, because more drinkers will be exposed to quality more often, not as an occasional splurge.
But there’s a constraint underneath it all: economic stability.
For a meaningful share of the population to move up the price ladder, disposable income growth has to broaden, not just concentrate.
It’s a point that Parameswaran makes clear; “Considering Indian metro cities, the number of retail outlets remains extremely low versus the population they are catering to. Over the course of the next few years, there is an expectation that this access will improve, as more premium stores and bar licenses are granted. This, along with stable taxation, should automatically be the catalyst for the blurring of lines between price and perception, as it has already proven to be in micro-regions within the metro regions of Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bangalore.”
Domestically made gin holds both a structural and emotional advantage
Domestic gin has a practical edge in India. Imported spirits face layered taxation, logistical complexity and long lead times. Local producers can therefore move faster, price with more flexibility, and iterate without the same friction.
That’s true in almost any market, but it’s not the most interesting part of the Indian gin story.
The bigger advantage, and the one shaping the category’s future, is that domestic gin brands can build meaning and regional identity in a way imports rarely can.
Two things sit at the centre of that: place, and people.
Place: provenance matters, but only if it shows up in the glass
India’s most compelling gins don’t use provenance as decoration. They treat it as a design principle.
That matters because it changes what “local” means and how it’s brought to bear. It’s not a postcode on a label. It’s a sensory logic that shows up in balance, texture, aroma, and the way a spirit behaves in a drink.
When it’s done well, a sense of place creates credibility first, and the story adds context rather than compensating for anything missing.
This is where domestic producers hold a natural advantage. They can build with local ingredients, local reference points, and local drinking occasions in mind.
They can do it in a way that feels culturally specific, rather than globally generic.
There is a caution here though. As Mayukh Hazarika, Founder & CEO Raincheck Earth Co comments “Place is meaningful only if it shows up in the glass. For Cherrapunji, rainfall is not just a story – it directly affects the water source, the local ingredients, and the overall texture of the spirit.”
And his point stands. Drinkers may not be able to name the place through flavour alone, but they can sense the balance and freshness that has been designed into it.
Hazarika continues “That sensory experience creates credibility, and storytelling then adds context rather than compensating for anything missing. A clear sense of place matters because it gives people confidence that the brand is grounded in something real, not constructed purely for marketing.”
There are several ways provenance shows up across Indian gin.
From my research, it’s clear that “place” can mean climate, water, agriculture, cuisine, or local craft knowledge, depending on where a brand chooses to anchor itself.
Take the place-led intent of Kumaon & I Gin, which frames provenance through strong Himalayan cues. Nilgiris Gin and Chambal Gin also lean into geography, but in a slightly different way: they use specific landscape references and an ingredient logic that’s designed to feel rooted.
Mohulo belongs in this conversation too, because it points to another truth about provenance. The term doesn’t only mean “this plant from this region”. It can also mean a wider relationship with indigenous ingredients and local production knowledge, handled in a way that feels contemporary and intentional.
The list could easily run into the dozens when it comes to provenance driven Indian gin.
It also explains why Indian gin is attracting so much enthusiasm. The country’s landscapes, ingredients, and cultural references are extraordinarily varied, and that gives producers real room to build gins with their own internal logic.
Given the expansive nature of the country, what could happen next is limitless. In my opinion – the long-term win won’t come from convergence around “native botanicals” or a single flavour preference however.
It will come from well-articulated specificity, presented in a way that resonates with drinkers and earns belief sip after sip.
People: why founder-led storytelling has carried this category
The second advantage domestic brands hold is more human, and it’s been especially central to the Indian gin story.
Founder-led storytelling remains dominant because the category wasn’t created by multinationals. It had to be built before it could be scaled. That pulled founders into visibility, not because personality-led marketing is fashionable, but because trust needed a face.
Gin also arrived differently to whisky in India. Whisky built power through legacy brands. Gin, in its modern form, has often built belief through people.
In this regard – Indian craft distillery founders have helped build the cultural permission for gin to exist in the first place.
Vanaha Gin maker, Jaiin shares a similar opinion of how we have arrived at this point.“Founder-led storytelling is central to Indian gin because this category was not created by multinationals. It is being built by founders. For decades, Indian alco-bev focused on whisky brands rather than the people behind them. Gin arrived differently. It required belief before scale, and that belief came from individuals willing to put their thinking, taste, and credibility behind the liquid.”
This is true anywhere gin has had to reinvent itself. In young or re-forming markets, consumers and the trade want to understand intent: who is making this gin, why it exists, and what standards guide it.
Founder presence helps answer those questions at a time when the category itself has limited reference points.
That dynamic also shapes the tone of the scene too. As Jaiin adds, “As a community, Indian gin still feels more collegiate than competitive. Many producers recognise that they are collectively building a category rather than competing within an established one.”
From my experience reporting on it and watching it unfurl over the years, I agree. Founder visibility has made limited editions feel more personal, the scene feel more dynamic and it has made collaboration feel more natural.
When the people behind the brands are living inside the context they’re speaking to, partnerships with the trade, co-branded releases, and on-trade storytelling tend to land with more credibility and less friction.
Structural advantages help domestic gin compete. While imports can bring scale and familiarity, through a sense of place and the people at the helm – domestic brands are bringing a sense of belonging to Indian gin.
Why does the Indian gin scene feel more saturated than it is?
From inside the market, Indian gin feels like it’s getting crowded. From a distance, that sentiment is easily compounded and it’s easy to think that Craft Gin is much bigger than it is in India. Namely, because there are a lot of names involved, and it’s hard to tell which ones are genuinely gaining traction.
The reality however, is that compared to the UK, US, or Australia, India simply doesn’t have the density of competitors you’d expect for a market of its size and long-term potential.
So while it’s clear that it is maturing quickly and is undoubtedly entering into a potential a golden era, it is nowhere near saturated.
Why, then, does it feel busy and why are so many hot takes mis-representing the true picture?
1) Visibility has finally caught up with quality
For years, Indian gins have been making international plays and quietly picking up recognition. Sponsoring bar takeovers, showing up during cocktail weeks, and having a presence at trade gatherings isn’t new.
What’s changed is the level of focus and the attention they’re getting.
In part, that’s because a vacuum has opened up elsewhere. The gin category in the US, Australia and UK has lost hundreds of brands in the past 18 months. Equally, as mature gin markets cool, attention to what is happening domestically fragments.
In this context – India is being looked at with more rigour, and with less background noise.
That sudden re-positioning of importance can feel like sudden saturation as more names pop up and get the consideration they deserve. Rather than a sudden boom however, it’s better understood as a shift in international attention.
2) The second wave is building with intent, while the standard overall is raising
New releases aren’t arriving into a blank slate. They’re arriving into a market that already has reference points set by savvy operators, and a bar that is already high.
The evidence is there in how founders talk about building now.
Cherrapunji maker Hazarika said to me “When we launched in 2023, Indian gin was already established. Earlier brands had proven that India could make high-quality gin. What we felt was still missing was depth – brands that were built around long-term thinking rather than speed. We chose not to chase rapid expansion or short-term trends. Instead, we focused on building a gin where place, water, botanicals, and production decisions were tightly connected from day one.”
His belief was simple: in a maturing market, restraint and clarity create more value than noise.
I’d add to this another unspoken point sitting underneath that. When quality already exists, it isn’t enough to emulate it. You need a plan to surpass it, even if “better” will always be subjective.
As a result, with category interest intensifying with every new release, everyone is raising their game and that in itself makes it feel far more competitive.
Examples of this can be found at all levels and in varying forms of accomplishment. Look at the level of design execution for Nisaki Gin and the brand cues that come with that striking glasswork made to stand out by the butterfly pea flower infused liquid it contains. Likewise the dual-cultural layering of Doja Gin, or the aesthetic confidence of Seqer Gin.
For every Sector, Satiwa, Soci, Matinee or Saṃsāra Gin (all of which are solid offerings that match the current level expected of craft made products) – there are those seeking custom-designed bottle shapes, bolder visual identities and building up concepts and designs that progress the conversation further in relation to their design and brand positioning.
3) Lazy headlines and economic insights make the market feel “bigger” overnight
I believe that the category feels crowded in international circles because brands are finally big enough to be seen by those with a passing interest, and the story is now visible beyond India.
Awards help cement status and reputation, but they mostly speak to an audience already looking in. Those who know and love gin could have told you about just how good the early pioneers were (and are). But there’s a limit to our reach.
Acquisitions however, amplify everything and pull in people who never really bothered to pay attention.
When Diageo India announced the acquisition of Nao Spirits (the company behind Greater Than and Hapusa), it wasn’t just a business story. It was a signal that Indian gin has moved from being an “interesting” investment to something far more strategic. Especially as it followed news of Distil Ventures’ demise elsewhere.
That triggered a wave of coverage and “insight” about the future potential of the market and with it – a sense of urgency around the category for those who hadn’t been watching the country over the past decade.
4) A lot of Indian “craft” Gin was never small, while production concentration also creates an illusion of density
A portion of “craft gin” in India has never been small in the way people assume, or at least not built without serious capability behind it.
Radico-backed Jaisalmer sits inside one of India’s major spirits groups, with deep manufacturing capability behind it. The same is true for Mohulo and Blue Moon Gin owner NV Group. The Malhar Classic Dry Gin is made by Whisky giants Paul John, likewise Amrut’s Nilgiris. Meanwhile Terai is backed by the Swarup family’s Globus Spirits group, which is also a large-scale alcohol producer.
These are all producers who measure their yearly output in hectolitres for a reason…
Yes, the gin stills are small and the ‘craft’ of it is authentic – but the capability stack has always existed to grow with demand. These are operators who know what volume looks like.
And there’s another reason the market can look crowded on paper: production is still concentrated but NPD and contract made products are rife.
A few prominent distilleries produce for multiple labels, and third-party distillation is a common part of Indian Distillery business models.
Gin Jiji was first made at Nao Spirits’ site for example, Pumori and Kosha Gins are both made by Fullarton Distilleries in Goa. Meanwhile, Short Story Gin is made by Third Eye Distilleries, makers of Stranger & Sons.
Whether contracted for an external brand owner, or multi brand identity ranges owned by the same producer – it creates the impression of a significant number of fully independent brands, each with a distillery.
The truth looks more like this; Many brands built for third-party production are highly local in scale, while the multi brand approach from the same owner allows for a chance to sell at a far lower price-point without fear of devaluing their premium offerings.
Because of that they are presented in a way to make each seem more independent than they are.
So yes, it can feel like the Indian market is crowded.
But what you’re seeing is not saturation. You’re seeing increased visibility and volume from established makers, and a two pronged channel strategy playing out. The top end of which are brands with enough relevance to register beyond India.
What happens next?
My prediction is straightforward. There’s room for more domestic brands, and there’s a long runway for international brands to keep trying to make a play for a share of the India market.
It’s something that Jaiin also agrees with; “India is still very early. Despite being one of the largest alcohol consuming markets in the world, gin remains a very small part of overall consumption. Compared to whisky, the category is nascent.”
She continues, “What we are seeing is early experimentation in a space with significant headroom as premiumisation accelerates and drinking habits evolve. The opportunity is not just to grow volumes, but to build culture, cult, and community around how gin is made, understood, and enjoyed.”
World-class liquid, but an Indian gin “style” is improbable
One of the most interesting questions in any young gin market is this: where is it headed?
Do producers win drinkers one gin at a time, or do they start organising more consciously around shared themes, shared ideals, and shared standards? The former is entrepreneurial. The latter is the long game, and if it’s done well, it becomes an edge. Not only domestically, but on the global stage too.
India now has a broad range of classic and contemporary gin expressions. What it is not doing, at least not yet, is converging on a singular flavour identity or a single exportable narrative.
That isn’t a critique. It’s simply where the category is, and the reality of India itself.
Plurality is a strength while the market is still forming
Take flavour. Most Indian gins are contemporary in expression. Juniper-forward but accessible. Technically polished. Built to mix. What they are not, yet, is radically singular in the way Australian native gins, South African fynbos leaning creations or certain Asian interpretations have become.
That isn’t because of a lack of ingredients. India is one of the most diverse landscapes in the world, spanning tropical to arid, coastal to inland, Himalayan to subtropical. Its culinary culture and agricultural range are vast. Unique botanicals are abundant. Its aromatics are globally prized, not only in food and drink, but increasingly in fragrance too.
It is because it takes time for an authentic stylistic twist to emerge, if ever.
As Hazarika said to me “India’s diversity—climatic, agricultural, and cultural—does not lend itself to one defining flavour profile. Rather than convergence, the category’s future lies in confident regional expressions. Over time, Indian gin may be recognised globally not for tasting one way, but for its willingness to explore place-led ideas and move beyond inherited Western templates.”
That’s the key point. Plurality is Indian gin’s strength right now, and no one should rush to curtail it.
Jaiin echoed my feeling in a comment she made discussing the scene as a whole – “India is too diverse in landscape, climate, and culture to arrive at a single gin identity at this stage. What matters more than a collective style is whether individual brands have a clear internal logic and point of view.”
“Vanaha sits within that plurality as an Artisanal Forest Gin. The forest is not treated as a flavour shortcut, but as a biome that shapes decisions around botanicals, extraction, and structure. It offers a distinct way of building gin in India, grounded in natural interaction and process rather than stylistic convention. At this point, India does not need one defining style. It needs well-articulated ones. Over time, that plurality will shape how the world comes to understand Indian gin.”
Guardrails might be the difference between growth and drift
Where the singular narrative, or common denominator questions becomes more strategic is when it’s not based around flavour. It’s longevity.
I’ve been on the frontline of the category for 15 years. If, like me, you’ve also watched other gin booms unfold, you’ll know this: it’s far easier to set expectations early than it is to regain them once a market is established.
The problem isn’t experimentation. It never is. The problem is when “anything goes” becomes the category’s defining message. When that happens, consumers stop knowing what they’re buying, and producers lose the shared language that helps a category carry meaning.
That’s why the guardrails and shared single vision conversation matters. Not as heavy regulation, and not as a forced “one style”. More as a loose foundation: agreed terms, a shared baseline of integrity, and some simple cues about what “good” looks like in this market. Think of it less as locking the category down, and more as protecting it from drifting into a flavoured spirits free-for-all.
Indian whisky is already beginning to formalise expectations in this way. Gin may benefit from the same conversation – early, while it’s still small enough to shape.
It isn’t a simple task however, and it’s deeply subjective.
Do additional standards really need to be agreed upon when education is still the bigger job? What is there to be gained by having GI’s and agreed naming conventions and technical standards? What would be the purpose and remit of in-country associations?
All of these are fair to ask and hard to answer.
But if Indian gin is going to become a major global growth engine, it will eventually need a collective sense of what it is trying to build. Even if that starts loose and evolves over time.
Otherwise the risk is predictable: a meteoric rise, followed by dilution of meaning and a huge expanse of what gin encompasses as a spirit, wavering trust in what’s being pitched, followed by a category that becomes harder to defend.
India does not need one defining gin style. It may never have one. But if it aspires to be a preeminent market for the category it will, at some point, need a shared commitment to what “Indian gin” should never become.
Scale will define the next phase, especially while export ambitions grow.
Scale in India needs to be understood on its own terms.
What counts as a mid-sized gin brand domestically can already rival what would be considered a large producer in the UK or Italy.
Population size, combined with state-level fragmentation, means success in even a handful of regions can translate into meaningful volume surprisingly quickly.
That’s the opportunity. The paradox is what comes with it – the operational burden escalates just as fast.
Production planning. ENA sourcing. Bottling capacity. Compliance. Logistics. Working capital discipline. These become defining factors far earlier in a brand’s life than they do in many other markets. In this context, stagnation is rarely about demand or liquid quality. It’s usually about systems failing to keep pace with ambition.
Scale is increasingly not only about domestic growth
For a number of Indian gin brands, international presence has been part of the strategy. Not because exports define success at home, but because they influence it. They build credibility and create signals. They change how a brand is perceived by the well-travelled Indian consumer, and by the trade.
You can see that dynamic in how brands like Jaisalmer have shown up abroad, how Nao Spirits approached export markets with Hapusa, and how Stranger & Sons has courted international on-trade and visibility.
It’s not the only route. But it’s a meaningful one.
The risk is obvious for those who do. Export is rarely easy, and it can become an expensive distraction if it’s pursued too early or without a clear reason.
Commenting on exports and expanding abroad, Parameswaran said “For super-premium brands that are reasonably well established in the domestic market, there is a case for targeting key markets and investing in the on trade there (read top bars). Building global credentials cannot be understated when it comes to how higher-end brands are perceived by the well-travelled Indian consumer, who are always going to be the best advocates for your brand.”
He notes a word of caution though. “If the financials don’t make sense, or are bleeding you dry, pull out and cut your losses. Export markets are not a must have for young brands, especially with the big battleground and budget-drainer that is the Indian market. One caveat to this is the Travel Retail channel- if you can build a portfolio and pricing strategy along with a robust visibility plan, then you have a brilliant shop window opportunity to supplement your domestic strength.”
I agree and if anything, it is the cleanest way to think about exports in Indian gin right now. Not as a default ambition, but as a selective tool. A credibility lever. A shop window. And only worth it when the domestic base is strong enough to carry the cost.
Irrespective of whether domestic or via export, the next phase of Indian gin’s growth will be shaped less by who tells the best story, and more by who can scale their message with the most operational consistency and clarity.
Depth will be the separator for Indian gin, and it may even change what success looks like.
This category is being built by producers who understand constraint. People who value patience. People who are learning to scale intelligently inside a system that doesn’t make anything easy.
That matters, because as other gin markets wrestle with saturation and sameness, India’s relative newness becomes a genuine advantage. It is still forming its rules.
However, India is about to enter the phase where visibility stops being a proxy for strength and where the easy growth disappears (if ever there is such a thing).
In young consumer categories, it’s possible to build momentum quickly. Distribution can arrive fast. Awards can follow. Press can amplify. None of that guarantees staying power.
As i have written about before – what will define the next stage is depth. Namely, what sits behind the bottle. Whether the liquid holds up over time. If the systems can support growth without eroding quality. Whether the brand has a reason to exist beyond the first wave of attention.
It is something that chimes with Jaiin’s view of where the category is heading. “Longevity takes longer to reveal itself. This is true across Indian consumer businesses, not just gin. Brands that invested early in the liquid, in infrastructure, in R&D, and in a genuine understanding of process will find it easier to scale without losing credibility. As the market matures, consumers begin to look beyond labels and promotions. They want to understand who is behind the brand, how the gin is made, and whether quality and authenticity hold up over time.”
This is where gin has a unique opportunity in India. It lends itself to conversation, to transparency, and to building a relationship with the drinker. Culture, cult, and community begin to form when people connect not just with the flavour, but with the thinking and care behind it.
This in turn, changes what success looks like for each producer.
For Cherrapunji and Hazarika, “success is measured in relevance and consistency, not scale alone. That means growing carefully, choosing the right markets, and maintaining quality even if it limits speed. It also means building a portfolio that deepens the original idea rather than stretching it. For Indian gin as a category, meaningful progress would be a shift from rapid launches to long-term brand building—where gin earns a stable, respected place alongside whisky and other serious spirits, both at home and internationally.”
The same is true for Revelry Distillery’s Ceo Jaiin. “For Vanaha, the belief has always been that trust is built through consistency, clarity of intent, and respect for the liquid. As Indian consumers continue to drink better and ask better questions, those foundations will only become more important. In five years, success will not be defined by who moved fastest, but by who built something credible enough to grow and relevant enough to endure.”
India’s gin story is live but it’s moved from “maybe one day” to having real momentum
What’s clear to me after pulling this report together is that the Indian gin story is not simple. Like all origin stories, there is a confluence of factors playing out.
Regulation shapes access. Access shapes habits. Habits shape what premium even means. And somewhere inside that system, founders, bartenders, and producers have been building belief in a category that didn’t have an established reference point a decade ago.
That’s why the scene feels so intriguing when you look closely. The brands are varied by design. Some are building through provenance and place. Others are building through founder-led trust and category education.
Flavour is broad, but the better gins aren’t chasing novelty for the sake of it. They’re chasing coherence, balance, and a sense of intent.
At the same time, drinking habits and consumer demographics are shifting quickly, and the route-to-market reality keeps forcing brands to learn operational discipline earlier than most of their Western peers ever had to.
If that sounds like flux, it is. And it’s why the next phase won’t be easy to predict.
Beyond the first wave of established names, it’s not obvious who becomes the next breakout super-brand because the capability stack is huge and many players are backed by operators who know what scale looks like. Yet it’s also true that plenty of brands still have work to do on identity, consistency, and overall brand world if they want to sit comfortably alongside the best gins globally.
What began as a Goa-led ignition point is now something closer to a national category story.
And as confidence in Indian premium spirits continues to grow, I think we’ll see the scene become more diverse, more regionally specific, and more ambitious in how it defines itself. Not by imitating Western cues, but by letting India’s scale, craft traditions, and cultural references shape what gin can become there.
Written by Olivier Ward, February 2026
Another report you might like
If you enjoyed this deep dive, you might also like my in-depth report on Australian Gin, which explores a very different set of pressures and opportunities facing producers down under.
