Solid profit in liquid trade

When I moved to Delhi about 6 years back, I was quiet amazed to see that people bought drinking water every day, unlike in other cities where drinking water was a free virtue. Bottled water, which started as a luxury for a small section of premium class of people, mostly travellers who came from abroad and bought it for health purposes have reached Indian households as their daily drink. Water is a booming market not just in India but in abroad as well. The global bottle water has reached a valuation of around 60 billion dollar and a volume of more than 115 billion liters (30,379,780 US gallons) in 2006. The global rate of consumption more than quadrupled between 1990 and 2005. Spring water and purified tap water are currently the leading global sellers; 200 billion liters are sold every day, as per a report.

Reasons for commoditizing water

Demand of clean drinking water has increased over a number of years because of water scarcity due to following reasons:

• Increasing population
• Alarming rate of global warming
• Rapid industrialisation
• Lack of adequate and improved management of water supply systems
• Improved water management
• Increased rate of water consumption
• Wastage of water
• Deteriorating condition of the water supply networks

Packaged water is big business in all parts of the world, including India. Bottled water is sold in a variety of packages right from 200 ml pouches and glasses, to 330 ml bottles, 500 ml bottles, to one liter bottles and even 20-50 liter bulk water packs. In terms of cost, the bottled water business in India can be divided broadly into three segments, premium natural water, natural mineral water and packaged drinking water.

Bottled water service

It is not uncommon for businesses and individuals to subscribe to water service. These services are for water supply on daily, weekly or monthly basis.

It is a good business opportunity, be it manufacturing or selling and can be started even in one small room.

Location- wise supply

Small mom and pop stores find the business of drinking water supply the most lucrative. Whether inside a society compound or near an industrial area, water can sell like hot cakes. So, choosing a populated area where there is daily sale of water can be both profitable and cost-effective. These big bottles start from Rs.20 and go upto Rs 75 or more.

Branding

Parle, Bisleri, Pepsi, Nestle, Mount Everest and Kingfisher are some competing and reining brands. There are local brands also. The required infrastructure is the same for branded and local players except for the differences in branding and marketing.

Conclusion: The future of water in India is very gloomy unless the water management practices are changed and if any drastic step towards this direction is not taken then we will face severe water problem, which will grow more due to increasing population. India can store only small quantities of rain water whereas rich countries like USA and Australia have built over 5000 cubic meters of water storage per capita. India dams can store only 200 cubic meters per person. Moreover, India can store only about 30 days of rainfall compared to 900 days in major river basins in developed countries.

Thanks to the above factors, the Indian bottled water Industry will be booming in the coming years.