How to Start a Wine Business in India

To start a wine business in India, first decide whether you will make wine, import it, sell it or only put your name on it. Each route needs a different licence from a state excise department, and the licence your state will actually issue decides everything else. Making wine is the manufacturing route: in the two winery project reports from Niir Project Consultancy Services (NPCS), total capital runs from ₹5.55 crore to ₹6.15 crore. Shops, bars and imports cost less to set up but lean harder on state policy. The order that holds up is short. Pick the state, ask its excise office which wine licences are open, secure grape or fruit supply in writing, and only then buy machinery. Reverse it and you end up with a rented shed and no licence.

Which wine business suits you: a winery, an import line, a shop, a bar or your own label?

The routes differ less in skill than in what your state allows, so compare them on licence and risk first.

Whether a brand owner without a plant can be licensed is the state's call, so read our contract manufacturing guide for the commercial side and ask the excise office about the rest. Importers should see the export and import business note. If your state is restrictive on wine, beer manufacturing and Indian made foreign liquor may follow different rules; all sit under beverage manufacturing ideas.

How much does it cost to start a winery in India?

Two NPCS project reports put a winery between ₹5.55 crore and ₹6.15 crore of total capital, though each was prepared separately on its own assumptions.

Compare each report's cost sheet before choosing a scale. Scale deserves a second look: 9,00,000 litres is 12 lakh bottles, and at about 1.2 kg of grapes a bottle (Cornell extension's working figure) that is roughly 1,440 tonnes of grapes a season. Contracting that is harder than buying tanks. The total moves most with vineyard land against bought grapes, barrels against steel tanks, cold storage, and a tasting room.

NPCS has prepared project reports since 1994 under a research process certified to ISO 9001:2015, and its cost sheets follow the layout banks normally ask for.

One funding trap: the negative list of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission, on the KVIC site, checked in October 2026, bars manufacture or sale of intoxicant items and any hotel, dhaba or outlet serving liquor from the Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP). Wine is not named, so ask the bank and KVIC how they treat a winery before subsidy enters your plan.

Is a wine business profitable in India?

Profit depends on the route, and in a winery it depends most on the grape contract.

The NPCS returns above are project report projections, not results. On demand, HDFC SKY's September 2025 summary of Sula Vineyards' annual report puts the market at US$150 million to US$200 million, with consumption under 50 ml a head. Sula's Q4 FY26 results blamed thinner margin on dearer grapes after more wine grapes replaced table grapes, which shows where winery margin is won or lost.

Imports shape pricing too. Most imported bottles face a 150% duty, per the European Commission's trade factsheet. Treaties are cutting it: Australia's applies since December 2022 to bottles above a price floor, New Zealand's is due from 20 October 2026, and the EU deal (final rates of 20% premium, 30% mid range) awaits ratification, Xtra Food Magazine reported on 5 October 2026. Expect cheaper foreign bottles in metro hotels and shops, and price accordingly.

Which licences does a winery need, and in what order?

The excise licence comes first, because every other rupee is at risk without it.

Every bottle must also meet the FSSAI alcoholic beverages compendium (version of 1 December 2025):

• Declare "Contains sulfur dioxide" or "Contains sulphite" once it exceeds 10 mg a litre.
• Print "Consumption of alcohol is injurious to health" at 3 mm or larger on packs above 200 ml, and make no health claims.

How is wine made, step by step?

1. Weigh and sort grapes, rejecting rot. Sugar and acidity checks decide what you pay.
2. Destem and crush. White grapes go straight to the press; red juice stays on the skins.
3. Add yeast and ferment under temperature control until the sugar becomes alcohol.
4. Press reds off the skins and rack the wine clear of sediment.
5. Clarify, stabilise and age in steel tanks or barrels.
6. Filter, check sulphite, blend.
7. Bottle, cork and label, then rest the bottles before dispatch.

Which machines does a small winery need?

The two NPCS reports carry plant and machinery of ₹164 lakh and ₹237 lakh; this is where it goes.

Do you need a vineyard, and how do you sell the wine?

No. Most new makers buy from growers on written seasonal contracts, and since wine grapes cost more than table grapes, fix variety and sugar levels in the contract. Your own vines take land and years before they crop.

Selling follows your licences: a tasting room where the state allows retail at the winery, hotels and restaurants, licensed shops, and online only where state rules permit. Alcohol advertising is tightly restricted, so wineries build brands through tastings, stays and restaurant lists. In Maharashtra, begin with its industrial areas.

What should you do first?

1. Write to the excise commissioner of your chosen state: which wine licences are open, is contract production allowed, which documents are needed?
2. Get grower supply letters covering your first year's bottles at about 1.2 kg each.
3. Fix the site and collect quotes for the machine groups above.
4. Settle funding without PMEGP.
5. Put it all into a detailed project report.

An NPCS project report for a winery covers project cost, machinery, working capital, cost of production, break even and a multi year cash flow in a layout banks recognise. It cannot promise the excise department's decision on your licence.

Frequently asked questions

How much wine does 1 kg of grapes make?

About 0.6 litre. Cornell extension's conversion factors use roughly 1.2 kg of grapes for a 750 ml bottle (0.75 ÷ 1.2), within 120 to 180 gallons of wine a ton. Variety and pressing move it, so test your own grapes before sizing tanks.

Can I start a wine business from home or with no money?

Not for making or selling wine: both need a state excise licence, and a winery needs a plant. What costs little is preparation: choosing the state, collecting grape supply letters, learning its licence rules.

Is a wine shop a profitable business?

It depends on the state. Retail margin follows state price and duty rules, and some states may not be taking new shop licences. Ask licensed shops in your district for monthly sales and rent first.

Can I make fruit wine instead of grape wine?

Yes. FSSAI's standards cover wine from fruit other than grapes, such as plum, apricot and pear, which suits regions where grapes do not grow. Honey wine joined them from 1 January 2026. The state licence still applies.

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