Gurugram has a king of good times. Lakeforest Wines is both liquor monopoly & a renaissance
‘It used to be the monopoly of Ponty Chadha,’ Neeraj Sachdeva, Lakeforest founder, said. After running a wine business in California, Sachdeva now rules Gurugram.
Neeraj Sachdeva, founder of Lakeforest Wines, at his office in Gurugram's Sector 18 | Photo: Sagrika Kissu | ThePrint
Gurugram: Neeraj Sachdeva’s world of affluence is divided into two hemispheres. On weekends, he tees off at Gurugram’s exclusive DLF Golf Club, often sharing the greens with the likes of cricket legends Kapil Dev and Yuvraj Singh. But come Monday, he’s back at his Sector 18 office, steering the growth of his liquor empire, Lakeforest Wines, now virtually a household name across Delhi-NCR.
But 55-year-old Sachdeva is no ordinary booze baron—he’s the first mover behind Gurugram’s transformation into Delhi-NCR’s liquor mecca. Selling everything from Red Label to Chilean reds to Japan’s Suntory Whisky Toki, shiny, mall-like chain outlets have become a symbol of the city’s pride and identity. In Haryana, a state where alcohol was banned between 1996 and 1998 and the market was long confined to dingy shops, Sachdeva returned from the US in 2004 with a vision to reshape how alcohol was sold, seen, and savoured in Gurugram—and pulled it off. Today, he’s not just a local player; he’s one of India’s biggest importers of wine – the quintessential drink of the wealthy.
“I always had confidence in myself that I would make it very big. I always wanted to make a lot of money,” Sachdeva said, seated in his plush office, surrounded by shelves of top-selling wine bottles.
A certified sommelier, Sachdeva ran a successful wine business in California before he decided to return to India 18 years ago, when the liquor market was dominated by barons like Ponty Chadha and Vijay Mallya. At first, Sachdeva had plans to manage the import section of Chadha’s operations, but the deal fell through. That’s when he opened his own upscale liquor store in Gurugram in 2007, located in the buzzing Sahara Mall and with celebrities like Ajay Devgn and Shilpa Shetty adding glamour to the inauguration.
Back then, convincing Sahara Mall’s management to allow a liquor store wasn’t easy, and he ended up with a shop tucked away at the back. But nearly two decades later, Gurugram’s liquor market has exploded, and there’s even a local saying: “There are fewer people and more liquor stores in Gurugram.”
With Haryana’s relatively liberal excise policy, a per capita income that’s topped the national average by about 70 per cent for years, and Gurugram’s cosmopolitan corporate culture, competitors like Discovery Wines and, later, G-Town are also vying for the high-end space now.
Sachdeva, however, had already carved out his advantage by securing the only Imported Foreign Liquor (IFL) licence in the region until 2018, establishing an early monopoly in the sector.
“From 2008 till 2017-2018, Neeraj Sachdeva was the king of imported liquor,” said a senior excise official in Gurugram on condition of anonymity. This dominance was largely due to Sachdeva’s control over the exclusive bottle in licence (BIO) and the L1 BF licence, which allowed him to import and distribute alcohol across Haryana. The official also noted that no one else could afford the steep import license fee until prices dropped from a high of Rs 50 crore in 2018. As a result, Haryana now has 16 L1B license holders.
Even though we now have an L1-BF licence, we still source certain wines from Neeraj because we don’t have the same access to international wine markets. He was ahead of his time and had branded himself in a way that made him stand out
-Abhimanyu Singla, owner of Discovery Wines
“While domestic players like Singlas, Mahalaxmi, and ADS stayed local, Sachdeva supplied top hotels like the Taj, Crowne Plaza, and Oberoi and through this he established relationships with big hoteliers, bars, and HNIs (high net worth individuals), building a strong distribution network,” added the official.
Sachdeva’s taste for luxury is reflected in his wine brand, Niccolo Sanitino, which he claims is the Italian version of his name. His influence reaches far and wide —politicians, cricketers, and Bollywood stars alike buy from him because they “trust the quality” of his liquor, he said.
“I can easily say that right now I am the number one private liquor importer in India. I am the only one with a backward integration channel. I even supply liquor to my competitors, Discovery Wines and G-Town, and big bars and restaurants in Sector 29 of Gurugram,” Sachdeva added. “For me, buying liquor should be akin to a shopping experience, and I have ensured Gurgaon has that. I want the world to learn the Gurugram way.”
When Neeraj Sachdeva was growing up in Delhi, he had his fair share of brushes with future celebrities—playing cricket with Shah Rukh Khan, his senior at St Columba’s school, partying with fellow Delhi University student Akshay Kumar in Vasant Kunj, and, later, forging a close friendship with Vivek Oberoi.
“As a kid, I admired many people. Now, those people are my fans,” he smiled.
But Sachdeva isn’t content with merely lubricating the parties of India’s rich and famous or running his glitzy retail outlets—20 in Gurugram and a few in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.
The two other pillars of his business are import and distribution and that’s where he is smelling the greatest opportunities.
His goal is to become the world’s biggest distributor of liquor, and he is doing everything he can to get there. He already owns a distillery in France and breweries in Chile, Spain and Scotland, where Lakeforest Wines produces its own gin, wine, and tequila. It also imports and sells its wines in India under brands such as Woodbridge, Temalo, and La Fantasia, starting at Rs 900 per bottle.
Currently, Lakeforest Wines owns around 12 liquor brands worldwide and represents one of the world’s largest wine groups, Constellation, in India. They are also launching their own tequila brand, Don Santos.
“Popular brands in the world don’t get entry into India. We partner with them and import those brands under our panels. We have already given people our retail experience. Now, we want to show how distribution is done,” said Sachdeva.
As Sachdeva gears up to conquer new realms in the liquor industry, his competitors are taking notes.
“Sachdeva has followed in the footsteps of Amandeep Singh Dhall from the Brindco Group,” said a competitor, asking to remain anonymous. “Dhall began by focusing on the import and distribution of premium wines before later expanding into beer.”
Dhall was a top player in the wine business—until his arrest last year in the Delhi excise policy case for allegedly paying kickbacks to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders. Other than Brindco, distributors such as Pernod Ricard and IndoSpirits were also named in the case and denied licence renewals in Delhi last year.
With a gap in the market, other players are vying for dominance and Sachdeva is a frontrunner.
“India is developing a taste for wine, with consumption rates on the rise. Sachdeva stands out as one of the largest importers in this growing market,” said a senior official of the International Spirits and Wines Association of India (ISWAI). “The wine market is small and fragmented, but it is the most prestigious segment.”
India’s wine market dipped from Rs 1,900 crore in 2020 to Rs 1,625 crore in 2021 during the pandemic, but high-end wines weathered the storm better, according to an industry report by the consultancy firm Technopak. By 2022, the market was rebounding, with projections to reach Rs 3,795 crore by 2025.
The “premiumisation” of the alcohol industry and the growing social acceptance of wine are key drivers of this growth, with imported wines anticipated to make up 18 percent of the market, the report added.
According to a Forbes report last October, wine consumption in India increased by 29 per cent in 2022, with an estimated 10 million Indians reportedly drinking it regularly.
In 2023-24 alone, Sachdeva imported wine worth over Rs 85 crore. Even his main competitors, Discovery and G-Town (formerly Jagdish Wines), purchase a portion of their imported wine from him.
“Even though we now have an L1-BF licence, we still source certain wines from Neeraj because we don’t have the same access to international wine markets,” said Abhimanyu Singla, owner of Discovery Wines. “He was ahead of his time and had branded himself in a way that made him stand out.”
For Sachdeva, quality is paramount in his premium wine imports—reputation is everything. His import business follows a rigorous process—the company first procures wine samples, tastes them, and then visits the wineries in those countries to ensure consistency before starting the shipment.
“We get most of our shipments in cooler periods because temperature is a constraint and the fluctuation should not be more than 10 degrees. It’s very hot in June and July, so your wine will be cooked, and you are done,” said Sachdeva.
Much like Dhall, Sachdeva is also turning his attention to imported beer. His target is Europe, with a focus on bringing prominent beer brands from Belgium, the Czech Republic, and Germany into the Indian market.
I would go to people’s houses (in the US), teach them about wine, and do tastings with their friends. Soon, the word spread, and instead of going to wineries, people came to my store to taste wine and get it bottled
These lofty dreams require deep pockets due to India’s prohibitively high tariffs on imported alcohol. Any finished alcoholic product entering India faces a 150 per cent basic duty, according to the ISWAI official—and that’s just the beginning.
“India has very high tariffs. After basic duty, the finished product that comes to India, goes to the states, and then there are additional duties charged on imported products, and that makes the entire process really expensive,” the official added.
But more than tariffs, Sachdeva’s biggest concern is retaining quality and freshness. To overcome this, he’s working on efficient distribution channels.
“Europe is a hub of good beers, but it’s a difficult market to crack because the transit time is too long. We plan to logistically bring the beer to India. The day it is brewed, we will get it here,” said Sachdeva.
Sachdeva’s life seems straight out of a Bollywood movie: a liquor baron living in the ultra-exclusive Camellias complex, hosting parties twice a week to strengthen his network, and playing golf with the who’s who of Gurugram. At the end of a long day, he enjoys his whiskey and vodka in the comfort of his opulent apartment, where the building even boasts its own movie theatre, cigar bar, and bowling alley.
“I am an out-and-out businessman, and you can call me a social butterfly,” said Sachdeva, whose flamboyant personality matches his bold business strategies.
Despite his straightforward nature and accessibility, Sachdeva draws strict boundaries to protect grand vision. He keeps his inner circle tight, allowing only three childhood friends—who work alongside him and know every detail of his business—into his confidence. He doesn’t like to name them and keeps them out of the public eye.
Sachdeva once learned the hard way about the risks of the liquor business when he opened a store in Faridabad and ended up spending a day in jail, accused of defrauding the administration.
“That store was run by my uncle but was in my name. I closed the unit. Can you imagine, I’ve never even been to Faridabad. You can’t trust anyone in this business. Rich people in India have a lot of money, and they want to pull everyone down,” he said solemnly.
Currently, Sachdeva and his team of three friends-cum-business partners are preparing to launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) to allow them to offer shares of the company to the general public and institutional investors. It’s a move that would place his private liquor company firmly on the industry map.
My father is very serious about his business. After graduation, he told me he wouldn’t give me any position without first understanding the business and working as a regular employee for a few years
-Riya Sachdeva, head of Lakeforest Wines’ media and public relations
He’s set a three-year target for this goal. His three-floor glass-fronted office is bustling with private equity investors, investment bankers, and auditors, all preparing him for this big step.
“You have to qualify for all the SEBI rules and regulations, get your accounts audited—listing on the stock exchange is seen as a sign of respectability for a liquor baron,” said an employee working at the headquarters of Lakeforest Wines.
At any given time, Sachdeva has multiple projects in the air. He’s even distributing a few brands for Diageo, one of the largest liquor companies in the world.
“I am going to meet Diageo India MD Ashish Parikh at Golf Club,” said Sachdeva, as he rushed out of his office on a busy afternoon in his Range Rover.
Sachdeva’s is not a rags-to-riches story, but his family has gone through some rough patches.
His mother, Kamlesh, who now lives in The Magnolias—a high-end gated complex next to Camellias—recalled how she had to take charge of the family’s finances after her husband, Sachdeva’s late father, suffered losses in the auto ancillary business he ran in Delhi’s Kashmiri Gate. To make ends meet, she stitched school uniforms, eventually hiring 10 workers as her business grew. But luxuries were few. When wealthier relatives visited and bought Coca-Cola bottles for the kids, Neeraj would never touch them.
“He always felt that the relatives were being arrogant and mocking our financial situation. He would say, ‘Mumma, I will be super rich someday,’” said Kamlesh, smiling.
After finishing his schooling and college in Delhi, Sachdeva moved to the US in 1994, chasing the capitalist dream of becoming a wealthy businessman—not in wine, but in garment trading.
While staying with his uncle, an Intel employee in California, a visit to a vineyard changed everything. Sachdeva shifted his focus to the wine industry, taking jobs at wine stores and earning his certification as a sommelier. His entrepreneurial instincts quickly kicked in.
“While working at a store, it crossed my mind that wine tastes different every year—so what if I open a wine tasting room inside the store?” said Sachdeva.
At the time, he encountered scepticism about whether an Indian could pull off such a venture, but he persisted, and eventually, his wine tasting room became a hit. His concept was simple: pay $5 to taste a flight of 5-6 wines, and if you bought a bottle, the tasting fee would be adjusted.
Whenever I ask (Neeraj) to slow down, he says, ‘Ma, it’s not about me anymore but about the 400 people who work with me. Their lives are dependent on me. They expect an increment every year, and I can’t be selfish
“I would go to people’s houses, teach them about wine, and do tastings with their friends. Soon, the word spread, and instead of going to wineries, people came to my store to taste wine and get it bottled,” said Sachdeva.
This is when Sachdeva began networking. He conducted wine tastings with the MD of Intel, the Rockefeller group, and built valuable contacts in the industry. In 1996, he opened his first store in El Dorado Hills, marketing himself by conducting tastings with the city’s elite.
Business was thriving, but in the mid-2000s, his wife Ruchira set India plans in motion. As a homeopathic doctor, she was unable to practice in the US and wanted to return home.
Sachdeva followed her in 2004. Within just two months in Gurugram, it struck him that he could create a wine oasis in the city.
“Back then, stores were dingy, shabby, and had black-coloured grilles as if the alcohol was being supplied from a jail,” recalled Sachdeva. “There was nothing here, and I had all the knowledge of the industry. I was sure I couldn’t fail here.”
A few initial hiccups didn’t deter him.
“It used to be the monopoly of Ponty Chadha back then. So, I met him and asked him to let me handle his import section of the business,” Sachdeva said. When the deal didn’t materialise, he devoted himself to opening his new store. Since then, there’s been no looking back.
In April 2022, actor Nargis Fakhri inaugurated Lakeforest’s grandest outlet yet—an 11,000-square-foot luxury store, L1 West, in Sector 17/18, complete with a sommelier, a vast selection of high-end brands, and even a wine gallery. Sachdeva, dapper in a cream-coloured suit, was present at the event, mingling with other members of Gurugram’s high society.
Earlier this month, another Lakeforest outlet opened at the Delhi-Gurugram Rajokri border, touted in social media posts as a “woman-friendly store with an immense parking space”.
Puttering around her luxury apartment, however, 75-year-old Kamlesh Sachdeva said she wishes her son would press pause for a while. She pointed out that he has earned enough to secure the future of their family for generations.
“But whenever I ask him to slow down, he says, ‘Ma, it’s not about me anymore but about the 400 people who work with me. Their lives are dependent on me. They expect an increment every year, and I can’t be selfish,’” she said.
A devout follower of the Brahma Kumaris, a spiritual movement that advocates teetotalism and simple living, Kamlesh fills her days with meditation, kitty parties, and card games with her society friends. But it still gets lonely in her Magnolias apartment, which her son gifted her two years ago, while he shifted to the nearby Camellias.
“Such a big house, and see, I am alone. We got so involved in building our empire that we forgot to enjoy our lives,” she said, pointing to family pictures on the walls.
Sachdeva’s wife, Ruchira, shares similar sentiments.
“As you grow bigger, you’re bound by obligations that must be fulfilled. You see couples enjoying their time together; we don’t have that, and I often complain about it,” said Ruchira, who runs a charitable dispensary in Gurugram.
Ruchira has been urging Sachdeva to take a trip to Europe with her to visit their younger daughter Rima, who’s studying in Spain, but he hasn’t found the time.
“I’m going alone now,” she said. “When I got married in 1994 and went to the US with him, I didn’t know we would become so big.”
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