Brands
Bonga Bonga toasts triple win, putting Indian liqueurs on global map
MUMBAI: Raise a glass! India’s first homegrown liqueur has gone global in style. ‘Bonga Bonga Mystery Liqueur’, the debut brand from Indobevs, has made history by becoming the first Indian liqueur to win accolades across three of the world’s most prestigious spirits competitions in the same year.
Launched in 2025, Bonga Bonga clinched silver at The Spirits Business Global Asian Masters, silver at the World Liqueur Awards, and bronze at the International Spirits Challenge. For a debutant label, that’s a hat-trick many established global players would envy.
These aren’t just any awards. The International Spirits Challenge, now in its 30th year, attracts thousands of entries from more than 70 countries, judged by distillers, bartenders and design experts. The World Liqueur Awards benchmark the very best against Europe’s legacy names, while the Asian Spirits Masters strips branding away to judge on taste alone.
“From day one, Bonga Bonga was imagined for the world,” said Indobevs, cmo, Anupam Gurani. “We wanted something global, alive and true to Indobevs’ DNA of innovation. Winning across three of the industry’s most credible stages affirms that ambition and shows a readiness among drinkers to embrace brands that tell new stories.”
What makes Bonga Bonga different is its secret blend of over 40 botanicals: rosemary, thyme, lavender, cinnamon, ginger, honey and more, crafted into a layered, sharp profile. Served at –10 degree celsius as a pure shot, it’s not designed as a mixer but as a ritual: crisp, bracing and unapologetically bold. Each bottle comes with an infuser that lets drinkers add dried herbs to invent personal flavours, turning every pour into a canvas for creativity. Even the bottle itself is designed to live on: reused, repurposed and reimagined long after the last drop.
For Indobevs, best known for cult favourite Brocode, Bonga Bonga is a category-bender, refusing to fit neatly into the global spirits playbook. With futuristic design, playful irreverence and a focus on participation as much as taste, the brand positions itself as a “category of one.”
Brands
RPSG’s Sudhir Langer exits days before IPL 2026
Timing sharpens focus on stake sale buzz and LSG’s tightening financial playbook
MUMBAI: RPSG ( RP-Sanjiv Goenka) Ventures has sprung a late leadership surprise just as the IPL drumroll begins. Sudhir Langer will step down as whole-time director and from the board effective March 31, days after the 2026 Indian Premier League season kicks off on March 28.
The timing is hard to ignore. RPSG Ventures owns Lucknow Super Giants, and Langer’s exit lands in a narrow pre-tournament window when operational focus is typically at its peak.
The move also coincides with chatter around a potential stake sale. According to a Moneycontrol report, the RPSG Group, led by Sanjiv Goenka, is exploring options to offload up to a 15 per cent stake in the franchise. There has been no official confirmation.
RPSG had acquired the Lucknow franchise in November 2021 for Rs 7,090 crore, among the highest bids in IPL history. The team operates under RPSG Sports Private Limited and carries a sizeable annual franchise fee obligation of Rs 709 crore through FY31.
Financials underline both scale and strain. The franchise remains heavily reliant on central revenue distribution from the Board of Control for Cricket in India. In H1 FY26, it received Rs 399 crore as its share of franchise rights, compared with Rs 458 crore in FY25, the single largest contributor to income.
Total revenue for H1 FY26 stood at Rs 495.9 crore, with profit at Rs 63.7 crore. Yet FY25 saw a softer showing: revenue fell about 20 per cent to Rs 557 crore, weighed down by fewer matches and a lower league finish in the 2024 season. Growth has since been modest, with H1 FY26 revenue rising roughly 3 per cent year on year.
That leaves LSG balancing on a familiar IPL tightrope: strong central inflows, volatile on-field-linked earnings and a hefty fixed fee burden.
With a leadership exit, stake-sale speculation and a new season about to begin, Goenka’s cricket bet is entering a decisive phase—where timing, performance and capital strategy will all have to click.
