Ina Bajwa joins Tilaknagar Industries as Chief People Officer

Tilaknagar Industries has appointed Ina Bajwa as Chief People Officer, adding a senior HR leader to its top team as the spirits maker enters a new phase of expansion and integration.

Bajwa announced the move in a LinkedIn post, saying she had joined the company at a time when “people leadership becomes deeply important” as the business strengthens culture, builds leadership depth and prepares for scale.

The appointment comes as Tilaknagar Industries, one of India’s established players in the India Made Foreign Liquor segment, looks to consolidate a recent business turnaround and absorb new growth priorities following its acquisition of the Imperial Blue whisky business from Pernod Ricard in December 2025.

Appointment comes at a key moment for the company

Tilaknagar Industries traces its roots to 1933, when it was founded as The Maharashtra Sugar Mills Limited before being renamed in tribute to Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bajwa noted in her post.

Today, the company operates across the IMFL market with a manufacturing footprint of more than 21 units across 12 states. Its portfolio spans multiple categories, with a strong position in brandy through Mansion House Brandy, which the company describes as one of the largest-selling brands in India and globally.

Bajwa said the company’s recent transformation was a major factor in her decision to join.

“Over the last 3+ years, TI has delivered a remarkable business turnaround strengthening its balance sheet, expanding distribution, and building strong growth momentum,” she wrote.

She described the Imperial Blue acquisition as “one of the most significant brand acquisitions in the Indian spirits industry”, adding that the deal had strengthened the company’s position as a pan-India IMFL player with a sharper focus on premiumisation.

HR leadership linked to growth and integration

Bajwa said the company’s next phase would require stronger people leadership as Tilaknagar Industries integrates teams and builds organisational depth.

“At milestones like these, people leadership becomes deeply important to integrate new teams, strengthen culture, build leadership depth, and enable scale while staying true to the entrepreneurial spirit that shaped the organisation,” she wrote.

Her appointment suggests the company is placing greater emphasis on workforce and culture as strategic levers, rather than treating HR as a support function.

That would be consistent with the wider shift across Indian consumer businesses, where talent strategy is increasingly tied to post-acquisition integration, leadership continuity and execution during scale-up phases.

Bajwa brings cross-sector HR experience

Bajwa joins Tilaknagar Industries after a brief stint at Landmark Group, where she served as Group Head of Talent and Engagement for retail from May 2025 to February 2026, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Before that, she held a series of senior HR and talent leadership roles across the Tata Group, including Chief Talent Officer at Tata Digital, Chief Human Resources Officer at 1mg, and global HR leadership roles at Tata Communications.

Earlier in her career, she also worked at HSBC, Boston Consulting Group and Essar, building experience across banking, consulting, telecom, consumer technology and retail.

On LinkedIn, Bajwa describes herself as an HR leader with more than two decades of experience across industries and business models, with a focus on aligning people strategy to business priorities, productivity and culture.

A people agenda for the next phase

In her announcement, Bajwa thanked Chairman and Managing Director Amit Dahanukar, along with the company’s leadership and HR teams, for what she described as their trust and warm welcome.

She said she looked forward to “partnering with colleagues across the organisation to build a future-ready & employee-first organisation that supports TI’s next phase of growth”.

That language points to a likely agenda centred on leadership capability, culture integration and future workforce planning as Tilaknagar Industries builds on its recent recovery and brand expansion.

For a company that has spent the past few years repairing the balance sheet, widening distribution and repositioning itself for national growth, the hiring of a Chief People Officer is more than a routine HR appointment. It signals that the next stretch of growth may depend not only on brands and distribution, but on whether the organisation can scale without losing cohesion.

In consumer businesses, that is often where the real test begins.