Oct 18, 2026 · 8 min read · By Pal Vineyards

India’s Wine Market Today: Size, Growth and Consumption

India is often described as one of the most promising wine markets in the world and, in the same breath, one of the most difficult. Both descriptions are fair, and the numbers behind them are looser than the headlines suggest. This article sets out what is reported about the size, growth and consumption of wine in India, dates each figure to its source, and is explicit about where the evidence is thin. The figures come from commercial research houses, trade press and company results; India has no single official statistics body for wine, so none of them is definitive. The latest sources used here run to mid-2026.

How big is the market? Four estimates, none authoritative

Commercial research firms disagree sharply on the value of Indian wine, and the disagreement is wide enough that quoting one number without the others would mislead.

• IMARC Group: USD 266.33 million in 2025, rising to USD 985.50 million by 2034, a compound annual growth rate of 15.65 per cent over 2026 to 2034.
• MarketsAndData: USD 270.56 million in the financial year 2024, with a forecast growth rate of 17.41 per cent a year to FY2032.
• Technavio: USD 531.5 million in 2025, with a growth rate of 23.8 per cent a year over 2026 to 2030.
• HDFC Sky, an industry commentary referring to the FY25 slowdown: a much smaller market of USD 150 to 200 million, growing at around 15 per cent.

For overlapping years these estimates sit two to three times apart. The likely causes are different definitions of what counts (retail value, ex-factory value or import value, with or without fortified wine) and the absence of an official series. That explanation is an inference, not something any of the firms states. What the estimates agree on is direction: a market in the low hundreds of millions of US dollars, growing at double-digit rates from a small base. The exact figure should be treated as unknown.

Volume and per-capita consumption

Volume figures are no easier. Wine Australia, in its market bulletin issue 304, reported that about 38 million litres were consumed in India in 2022, growing at roughly 8 per cent a year over 2017 to 2022, and that wine remained under 1 per cent of total alcohol by volume. On the same basis Indians were drinking roughly 7.5 times as much beer and 9 times as much spirits. A frequently quoted production estimate of around 35 million litres a year is plausible but could not be pinned to a single current authority; older figures cited by the US Department of Agriculture are nearer 17 to 18 million litres of production, so treat it as an order of magnitude.

Per-capita consumption is tiny and the estimates scatter. Sources give roughly 9 millilitres a year (Wikipedia), 10 millilitres for 2023 (a cross-country index), under 50 millilitres (a 2025 industry commentary) and, in other trade coverage, around 0.2 litres against a global average near 3 litres. For scale, the highest consumer in the world, Luxembourg, is put at about 75.9 litres a person (Helgi Library). Whichever figure is right, India sits near the bottom of the world table.

Where wine is made and where it is drunk

Production and consumption are in different places. Maharashtra produces the large majority of Indian wine, put at about 70 per cent of output by IMARC and about 90 per cent in other summaries, so the share depends on the source. Nashik district alone is credited with roughly 80 per cent of national output, and by one directory count about 45 to 52 of India’s roughly 95 wineries are there. Karnataka is second. Nashik also recorded about 340,000 winery visitors in 2023 (IMARC).

Consumption follows the metros. IMARC puts North India at about 31 per cent of consumption in 2025, led by Delhi and its surrounding region. The same source reports that over 65 per cent of national consumption is concentrated in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Goa and Pune, and that Goa leads on a per-capita basis. A 2017 Statista breakdown gave Mumbai 39 per cent, Delhi 23 per cent, Bengaluru 9 per cent and Goa 9 per cent, roughly 80 per cent in four cities. That is dated, but it points the same way as the newer estimate. IMARC also estimates more than 5 million active urban wine consumers as of 2023. Trade research reports double-digit growth in cities such as Pune, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Indore, and puts women at over 30 per cent of wine consumers in the metros (Pragma Market Research, 2025), though that is a metro-only estimate from a market-research blog, not a government statistic.

Who sells it, and how

The listed bellwether is Sula Vineyards, which listed on the BSE and NSE on 22 December 2022 and is the largest producer. For the year to March 2025 it reported record revenue of about Rs 618.8 crore, up 1.7 per cent on the year before, with wine tourism revenue of Rs 60.3 crore, up 10.2 per cent (Indian Television, Indian Retailer). Its elite and premium brands made up 77.1 per cent of own-brand revenue, up from 75.2 per cent, and the growth came from mix and tourism rather than volume. Market-share estimates in trade handbooks put Sula at roughly 50 to 60 per cent of branded domestic wine and Fratelli at roughly 25 to 30 per cent; those are market-research estimates and they vary.

The way wine is bought has also changed. Off-trade (retail, supermarkets, specialist shops and e-commerce) was about 63 per cent of the market in 2025 and on-trade (restaurants, bars and hotels) about 37 per cent, according to IMARC. In 2019 on-premise consumption was slightly above 70 per cent (Ambrosia India). Both figures are single-source, though several write-ups corroborate the direction.

Industry commentary (HDFC Sky) described the year to March 2025 as a demand reset: wine is a mostly urban drink, top-city consumption fell, and Maharashtra election and regulatory disruption added to the drag. A rebound was expected for FY26.

Imports and trade agreements

Imports are growing faster than domestic wine. Trade press reported that wine imports rose by more than 50 per cent in the first half of 2025 (The Drinks Business, October 2025), though that comes from a single cluster of sources and a small base. The import duty regime is the reason the base is small. Bottled wine has historically carried a headline basic customs duty of 150 per cent, and the exact present-day stack of duty, cess, surcharge and tax was not checked against a primary government notification for this article.

Three trade agreements touch wine, with different results. The India-Australia agreement, in force since 29 December 2022, cuts duty on wine above US$5 a bottle from 150 per cent to 100 per cent at once and then by five percentage points a year for ten years to 50 per cent, with a deeper cut for wine above US$15 (DFAT). The India-EU agreement, concluded on 27 January 2026, would cut wine duty to 75 per cent when it enters into force and then phase it down over seven years to 30 per cent for wine in the €2.50 to €10 band and 20 per cent above €10, with a minimum import price of €2.50 per 750 millilitre bottle below which there is no concession (European Commission; Business Standard). It had not entered into force as of the July 2026 sources used here, and commentators expect early 2027 without a fixed date. The India-UK agreement, signed on 24 July 2025 with entry into force set for 15 July 2026, is the surprise: the published Indian tariff schedule lists grape wine at 150 per cent with no concession, because its cuts apply to whisky and gin and other spirits, not to grape wine (UK Government, CETA Appendix 2A-a). Some earlier summaries said otherwise; the primary schedule is the better source.

What holds the market back

Excise is set state by state across India’s 28 states and 8 union territories, each with its own duty, licence fees and brand-registration rules, and moving stock between states typically means paying an import fee in the destination state and an export pass fee in the origin state (ICRIER research, as summarised by BW Legal World and The Somm Pour). Tamil Nadu and Kerala run state-controlled retail (The Drinks Business, 2024). Bihar and Gujarat prohibit alcohol (Gujarat with a narrow carve-out in its GIFT City), and together hold a population above 190 million (Wikipedia, alcohol prohibition in India). National distribution means registering and filing in every state separately.

What we do not know

The gaps are as important as the figures. There is no reconciled, primary-sourced total for market value, and the research houses differ by a factor of two or three. Imports are put at roughly 33 per cent of consumption by one source and 15 to 20 per cent by another; the lower share looks more consistent with volumes, but that is a judgement, not a reconciliation. No single table compares state excise like for like. The size of the women and organic-wine segments is cited only qualitatively. Pal Vineyards, whose first collection, Malwa, opens by allocation in February 2028, publishes these figures as background, not as a forecast.

Sources

1. IMARC Group, India Wine Market. https://www.imarcgroup.com/india-wine-market
2. MarketsAndData, India Wine Market. https://www.marketsandata.com/industry-reports/india-wine-market
3. Technavio, Wine Market in India. https://www.technavio.com/report/wine-market-in-india-industry-analysis
4. HDFC Sky, “Indian Wine Industry Looking to Rebound in FY26 After Previous Year’s Slowdown”. https://hdfcsky.com/news/indian-wine-industry-looking-to-rebound-in-fy26-after-previous-years-slowdown
5. Wine Australia, market bulletin issue 304. https://www.wineaustralia.com/news/market-bulletin/issue-304
6. Statista, India wine consumption (per capita). https://www.statista.com/statistics/1353055/india-wine-consumption/; Helgi Library, wine consumption per capita https://www.helgilibrary.com/indicators/wine-consumption-per-capita/; Wikipedia, Indian wine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_wine
7. Statista, consumption of wine among consumers by region of origin, India (2017). https://www.statista.com/statistics/741335/consumption-of-wine-among-consumers-by-region-of-origin-india/
8. Pragma Market Research, India Wine Market. https://www.pragmamarketresearch.com/blog/india-wine-market
9. Ambrosia India, “India Wine Market Growing Despite Challenging Times”, August 2025. https://www.ambrosiaindia.com/2025/08/india-wine-market-growing-despite-challenging-times/
10. Indian Television, Sula Vineyards FY25 record revenue https://www.indiantelevision.com/mam/marketing/brands/sula-vineyards-toasts-to-record-revenue-in-fy25,-wine-tourism-pours-in-double-digit-growth-250411; Jobaaj Stories, Sula Q4 FY25 performance https://stories.jobaaj.com/news-updates/business/sula-vineyards-q4-fy25-performance-marginal-revenue-decline-wine-tourism-shines
11. Expandys, India’s growing wine market handbook for global players https://www.expandys.com/blog/indias-growing-wine-market-handbook-for-global-players; WineWithSeth, WineWiki on the Indian wine industry https://www.winewithseth.com/winewiki/indian-wine-industry/ (market shares).
12. The Drinks Business, “Is the Indian wine market all it’s cracked up to be”, October 2025. https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2025/10/is-the-indian-wine-market-all-its-cracked-up-to-be/
13. European Commission, “EU and India conclude landmark Free Trade Agreement”. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_184; Business Standard, “India-EU trade pact: India offers 30% duty reduction on imported wine” https://www.business-standard.com/industry/news/india-eu-trade-pact-india-offers-30-duty-reduction-on-imported-wine-126012801302_1.html; ORF, “The India-EU FTA: from political agreement to ratification and coming into force” https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/the-india-eu-fta-from-political-agreement-to-ratification-and-coming-into-force
14. DFAT Australia, Australia-India ECTA, Annex 2A tariff schedule of India. https://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/in-force/australia-india-ecta/australia-india-ecta-official-text/annex-2a-tariff-commitments-section-2a-tariff-schedule-india
15. UK Government (Department for Business and Trade), UK-India CETA Appendix 2A-a, Schedule of Tariff Commitments of India. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/687f696b8adf4250705c9773/uk_india_ceta_annex2a_a_schedules_tariff_commitments_of_india.pdf
16. BW Legal World, “One Nation, Many Excise Laws” https://www.bwlegalworld.com/article/one-nation-many-excise-laws-why-india-needs-a-model-liquor-law-572025; The Somm Pour, “Chapter 1: One Nation, Many Wine Markets” https://thesommpour.substack.com/p/chapter-1-one-nation-many-wine-markets; The Drinks Business, “A state-by-state guide to liquor laws in India”, May 2024 https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2024/05/a-state-by-state-guide-to-liquor-laws-in-india/; Wikipedia, Alcohol prohibition in India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_prohibition_in_India
17. Producer-count and regional-share figures for Nashik: Pal Vineyards research files “Indian Wineries - Complete Directory (2026)” and “Indian Grapes & Wine Industry”, citing Wikipedia, Indian wine, and IMARC. Market figures as compiled in the research files “Indian Wine Market - Size, Growth & Consumption (2026)” (updated 7 September 2026) and “Indian Wine Market - Deep Trends, Financials & Outlook” (updated 17 August 2026).