India, Sept. 16 -- Allied Blenders and Distillers just picked up a manufacturing licence that doesn't look like much on the surface but points somewhere bigger. Telangana's excise department has cleared the company's Rangapur plant to produce a type of spirit it's historically bought from outside suppliers. It's a routine-looking regulatory filing, the sort that gets a line or two in most trackers and then gets forgotten except this one connects fairly directly to where ABDL has said it wants its premium whisky business headed.

Shares of Allied Blenders and Distillers Ltdare trading at Rs. 651.05, up 3.07 percent on Wednesday. The stock touched the intraday high of Rs. 654.80 after opening at Rs. 635.15 before slipping to a low of Rs. 6...