Mercedes-Benz India Backs Indian Padel Tour in Major Boost for the Sport's Growth

Mercedes-Benz India has announced a landmark multi-year partnership with PadelPark India, becoming the Title Partner of the Indian Padel Tour (IPT) for the 2026-27 season. 

The collaboration marks one of the most significant partnerships between a luxury automotive brand and Indian padel, underlining the sport's rapid rise as both a competitive discipline and a premium lifestyle movement.

The announcement comes at a time when padel is witnessing unprecedented growth across India, attracting entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, young professionals, creators and fitness enthusiasts. By aligning itself with the country's leading professional padel circuit, Mercedes-Benz India is extending its focus beyond automobiles to build meaningful lifestyle experiences around sport, community and innovation.

The partnership also coincided with the launch of the Mercedes-AMG E 53 HYBRID 4MATIC+, the company's first electrified AMG E-Class model in India, highlighting the brand's emphasis on performance and modern mobility.

Padel has emerged as one of the world's fastest-growing sports over the past decade, and India has quickly become one of its most promising emerging markets. The game combines elements of tennis and squash, making it accessible to beginners while remaining highly competitive for experienced players. Its relatively smaller courts, fast-paced rallies and social nature have made it particularly attractive to urban professionals looking to combine fitness with networking and recreation.

In India, the sport has expanded rapidly through the development of premium facilities, coaching programmes and competitive tournaments. PadelPark India has been at the forefront of this growth, investing in infrastructure and creating opportunities for both amateur and professional players to compete regularly. The Indian Padel Tour has become the country's flagship professional circuit, providing a structured platform that allows Indian players to compete alongside internationally ranked athletes while steadily raising the standard of competition.

The upcoming Indian Padel Tour season promises to be the biggest in the competition's history. The 2026-27 calendar will feature 15 professional tournaments spread across 10 major Indian cities, significantly expanding the sport's national footprint. The season will begin in Mumbai in August 2026 before concluding in Bengaluru in June 2027, creating a year-long circuit designed to provide consistent competitive opportunities for players while increasing fan engagement across the country.

The expanded schedule reflects the growing popularity of the sport and the increasing demand for professionally organised competitions. For Indian players, the tour will offer valuable ranking opportunities and greater exposure against high-quality domestic and international opposition.

PadelPark India's leadership believes the partnership represents a significant milestone for the sport. Co-founder Jigar Doshi described the Indian Padel Tour as a platform created to build the competitive ecosystem necessary for the long-term success of the sport. He emphasised that while participation introduces people to padel, structured competition inspires players to improve, remain engaged and aspire to compete at higher levels.

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He added that welcoming Mercedes-Benz India as title partner reflected a shared commitment to building the future of padel in India while positioning the country as one of the world's most exciting emerging markets for the sport. Fellow co-founder Pratik Doshi echoed similar sentiments, stating that partnering with a globally recognised luxury brand validates the growing stature of Indian padel.

According to him, the collaboration will help deliver a world-class competitive season, improve the overall player experience and contribute significantly to the professionalisation of the sport in India.

For Mercedes-Benz India, the partnership represents more than a traditional sponsorship agreement. The company views luxury increasingly through the lens of experiences, communities and customer engagement rather than solely through the products it manufactures. Padel naturally aligns with this philosophy.

The sport attracts many of the same audiences that luxury brands increasingly seek to engage—young professionals, entrepreneurs, business leaders and premium lifestyle consumers who value both wellness and exclusive experiences. Commenting on the association, Santosh Iyer, Managing Director and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India, said the company's understanding of performance extends beyond automobiles into the experiences it creates for customers and communities.

He noted that just as the newly launched AMG E 53 HYBRID represents precision engineering and innovation on the road, the partnership with the Indian Padel Tour reflects the brand's commitment to supporting high-performance experiences away from it.

Corporate partnerships have become increasingly important in the growth of emerging sports across India. While cricket continues to dominate the commercial landscape, disciplines such as padel have begun attracting significant private investment due to their expanding participant base and premium consumer appeal.

Mercedes-Benz India's involvement could accelerate several aspects of the sport's development, including tournament production, player opportunities, fan engagement and grassroots participation. The partnership also sends a strong signal to other corporate brands that padel has evolved beyond a niche recreational activity into a commercially viable sporting property with long-term growth potential.

For players, increased investment often translates into better tournament organisation, improved prize structures and enhanced visibility, all of which contribute to raising competitive standards.

The collaboration between Mercedes-Benz India and PadelPark India represents a major milestone in the evolution of Indian padel. As participation continues to grow across metropolitan cities and new facilities emerge nationwide, the presence of a globally recognised luxury brand lends additional credibility to the sport's rapid development.

The expanded Indian Padel Tour also provides an important platform for nurturing homegrown talent while attracting international players and increasing the sport's visibility among fans.

With 15 tournaments scheduled across 10 cities, the 2026-27 season is expected to be the largest and most competitive edition of the tour to date.

For Mercedes-Benz India, the partnership reinforces its strategy of creating premium lifestyle experiences beyond the automotive sector. For PadelPark India, it marks a transformative step in building a sustainable professional ecosystem. Most importantly, for Indian padel, the collaboration has the potential to accelerate the sport's journey from a fast-growing recreational activity to one of the country's leading premium sporting properties.