Tilaknagar Industries buys 30% of tequila's Black Tiger

Tilaknagar Industries (TI), the Indian spirits company best known for brandy brands such as Mansion House, has taken a 30% minority stake in Black Tiger Distilleries (BTD), the company behind India's Bodega Suprema No. 5 tequila, marking TI's first move into the agave category.

TI is paying a total of just over ₹22 crore (about £1.72m) for the stake, on a fully diluted basis, in two tranches. The first, just under ₹6 crore, is already done: a BSE filing dated September 15, 2026 confirms TI completed it for roughly a 12.5% stake, via 14,628 compulsorily convertible preference shares and 100 equity shares. The second tranche, ₹16 crore, is due within 12 months of the first, taking TI to the full 30%.

What Bodega Suprema No. 5 costs

A brandy company that built its name on domestic bottles is now underwriting Mexican imports at £40 a bottle.

BTD, founded by Mohnish Mehta, makes Bodega Suprema No. 5, a line of 100% Blue Weber Agave tequila crafted and bottled at origin in Jalisco, Mexico, and sold in India in three expressions: Blanco, Reposado and Añejo. Bottles run roughly ₹4,200 to ₹5,500 (about £32.50 to £42.70) at retail. "We see an opportunity to make authentic 100% blue weber agave tequila more accessible to Indian consumers at a compelling premium price point," Mehta said of the deal.

What Tilaknagar actually brings

TI says it will offer BTD support in distribution, sales and marketing, supply chain, and finance and regulatory matters, drawing on its pan-India experience building premium spirits brands. Stripped of the phrase "strategic partnership," that means BTD gets access to a distributor network already licensed to move spirits across India's patchwork of state-level alcohol rules, one of the biggest practical barriers for an imported tequila trying to scale beyond a handful of cities. Sanaya Dahanukar, TI's GM for growth and innovation, called tequila "an emerging trend with significant potential"; chief strategy officer Ameya Deshpande pointed to the fit with a premium consumer base built on provenance and quality.

The bet rests on numbers TI and BTD both cite to IWSR: India's tequila volumes grew at roughly a 60% compound annual rate between 2020 and 2025, including about 34% growth in the past year alone, with IWSR forecasting a slower but still brisk 13% CAGR through 2030. That is explosive growth off a small base, and it is why a company that built its name on domestic brandy is now underwriting a premium Mexican import instead, a bet that echoes Allied Blenders' own recent move into home-grown single malt.