Introduction

Water is the most important necessity for life. The drinking-water needs for
individuals vary depending on the climate, physical activity and the body culture. but
for average consumers it is estimated to be about two to four litres per day. The
growing number of cases of water borne diseases, increasing water pollution,
increasing urbanization, increasing scarcity of pure and safe water etc. have made
the bottled water business just like other consumer items. Scarcity of potable and
wholesome water at railway stations, tourists spots, and role of tourism corp. etc.
has also added to the growth.
Almost all the major international and national brands water bottles are available in
Indian market right from the malls to railway stations, bus stations, grocery stores
and even at panwala's shop. Before few years bottle water. was considered as the
rich people's choice, but now it is penetrated even in rural areas. The growth and
status of Indian Bottled Industry in comparison with Western or Asian market, India
is far behind in terms of quantum, infrastructure, professionalism and standards
implementation. The per capita consumption of mineral water in India is a mere 0.5-
liter compared to 111 liter in Europe and 45-liter in USA. Also As per UN study
conducted in 122 countries, in connection with water quality, India's number was
dismal 120. In comparison to global standards India's bottled water segment is
largely unregulated.
Former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has urged youngsters on July 17, 2010 to
be aware of water conservation techniques to avoid grave water crisis in future."It is
so sad that today, people are forced to buy water in plastic bottles. I am told that
bottled water industry is worth nearly 10000 crore rupees and even big companies
like the Coke and Pepsi are involved in this bottling of water and making money. So,
it is imperative that we ought to save water," he added.
Do not be surprise if today's bottles water industry becomes next Oil industry by
2025.
Bottled Water Industry in India
Water Shortage and Health Awareness Driving Bottled Water Consumption in
India. The Indian market is estimated at about Rs 1,000 Crore and is growing at
whopping rate of 40 per cent. By 2010, it will reach Rs 4,000 -5,000 Crore with 33
per cent market for natural mineral water.
According to a national-level study, there are more than 200 bottled water brands
in India and among them nearly 80 per cent are local brands. In fact, making bottled
water is today a cottage industry in the country. Leave alone the metros, where a
bottled-water manufacturer can be found even in a one-room shop, in every medium
and small city and even some prosperous rural areas there are bottled water
manufacturers.
While India ranks in the top 10 largest bottled water consumers in the world, its per
capita per annum consumption of bottled water is estimated to be five litres which is
comparatively lower than the global average of 24 litres. Today it is one of India's
fastest growing industrial sectors. Between 1999 and 2004, the Indian bottled water
market grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25 per cent - the highest
in the world. The total annual bottled water consumption in India had tripled to 5
billion liters in 2004 from 1.5 billion liters in 1999. Global consumption of bottled
water was nearing 200 billion liters in 2006.
Bottled water top players in India
The top players in bottled water industry in India are the major international giants like Coca
cola, Pepsi, Nestle and noticeable presence of national players like Mount Everest,
Manikchand, Kingfisher, Mohan Meakins, SKN Breweries , Indian Railways so on. With
increasing competition, this sector will register a robust growth in 2010, predict industry
analysts.
To take on rivals in this sector, PepsiCo India is drawing up a fresh game plan which
includes, investment in capacity enhancement, packaging initiatives and below-the-line
activities to pump up volumes in the over-crowded category. Meanwhile, swadeshi major Parle
Agro is extending the manufacturing facility for
Bailley from 29 to 60 plants this year. While swadeshi major Bisleri International is beefing up
its distribution, manufacturing and marketing operations, Coca-Cola India is sharpening its
focus on packaging initiatives of Kinley to woo new consumes. In essence, the packaged water
industry in India will soon witness a major tussle between swadeshi and videshi players to gain
market and mind share.
The western region accounts for 40 per cent of the market and the eastern region just 10.
However, the bottling plants are concentrated in the southern region - of the approximately
1,200 bottling water plants in India, 600 are in Tamil Nadu. But a major problem is southern
India, especially Tamil Nadu, is water starved.
Top multinational players such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have been trying for the past
decade to capture the Indian bottled water market. Today they have captured a significant
portion of it. However, Parle Bisleri continues to hold 40 per cent of the market share. Kinley
and Aquafina are fast catching up, with Kinley holding 20-25 per cent of the market and
Aquafina approximately 10 per cent. The rest, including the smaller players, have 20-25 per
cent of the market share.
History of Bottled water in India
Mineral bottled water in India under the name 'Bisleri' was first introduced in
Mumbai by Bisleri Ltd., a company of Italian origin in 1965. Mineral bottled water
were in glass bottles in two varieties - bubbly and still in 1965 This company was
started by Signor Felice who first brought the idea of selling bottled water in India.
Parle bought over Bisleri (India) Ltd. In 1969 and started bottling Mineral water
in glass bottles under the brand name 'Bisleri'. Later Parle switched over to PVC
non- returnable bottles and finally advanced to PET containers. Since 1995
Mr.Ramesh J. Chauhan has started expanding Bisleri operations substantially and
the turn over has multiplied more than 20 times over a period of 10 years and the
average growth rate has been around 40% over this period. Presently it have 8
plants and 11 franchisees all over India. Bisler command a 60% market share of
the organized market.
Currently, Bailley has a national presence in 5 lakh retail outlets across the
country. “We plan to increase manufacturing plants for Bailley from 29 to 60,
presently 40 plants are operational and few more will be ready for operations over
the next few months,” informed Nadia Chauhan, joint managing director of Parle
Agro.
Variety of packages
Bottled water is sold in a variety of packages: pouches and glasses, 330 ml bottles, 500 ml
bottles, one- litre bottles and even 20- to 50-litre bulk water packs. The formal bottled water
business in India can be divided broadly into three segments in terms of cost: premium natural
mineral water, natural mineral water and packaged drinking water.
Premium natural mineral water includes brands such as Evian, San Pelligrino and Perrier,
which are imported and priced between Rs.80 and Rs.110 a litre. Natural mineral water, with
brands such as Himalayan and Catch, is priced around Rs.20 a litre. Packaged drinking water,
which is nothing but treated water, is the biggest segment and includes brands such as Parle
Bisleri, Coca-Cola's Kinley and PepsiCo's Aquafina. They are priced in the range of Rs.10-12 a
litre.
Bottled water major Bisleri International plans to launch fruit-flavoured water before the start of
the festive season this year, a top company official said. Bisleri, which enjoys 65 per cent
market share in the branded water segment, is also eyeing a sharp growth in sales during the
festive season that begins from August
Why Bottled water?
Millions of people, both in rural and urban India, suffer from inadequate or no tap water supply.
Even some parts of Mumbai, the country's financial capital, get a mere two hours of daily water
supply. The city's Virar suburb gets 45 minutes. So bottled water is much in demand by
residents - even though the businesses profiting from the sales are thriving from access to
public water sources.
Bottled water fills a void created by government failure to address basic services, Peter Gleick
of the Pacific Institute writes in its World Water report. "In many parts of the world, tap water is
not available or safe to drink," writes . "In these regions, the failure of governments to
provide basic water services has opened the door to private companies and vendors filling a
critical need, albeit at a very high cost to consumers." The institute reasons that governments
should tap into spending on commercial water by consumers to secure funds to provide safe
water at fraction of the cost.
Gigi Kellett, US national director of the Think Outside the Bottle campaign, argues that demand
for bottled water is due to industry creating "a market by casting doubt on the quality of tap
water, when in fact bottled water is subject to far less scrutiny and often comes from the same
source".
Bottled Water: How Safe?
The bottled water industry has spent billions over the past decade to sell you on the idea that
bottled water is better than tap water. Well the short answer is they are both unhealthy. One of
the most ironic parts of the bottled water tragedy is that the water bottling industry gets the water
free, filters it, bottles it and sells it back to us at 1,900% profit. The ironic part is that tap water is
legislated to be 7.0 pH neutral. They first dump a TON of cholrine in the water to kill off all the
bad bacteria, this makes it highly acidic.
In India around 100 companies sell an estimated 424 million litres of bottled water valued at
around Rs 200 crore in the country annually . Most bottlers claim that their water is 100 per cent
bacteria-free and contains minerals that make it tastier and healthier. But is the water in these
bottles really safe to drink? Do they conform to international or national standards?
To find out, the Ahmedabad-based Consumer Education and Research Society (CERS), an
independent non-profit institution with a sophisticated product-testing laboratory, recently carried
out a detailed study on 13 major brands of bottled water available in the country. The national
brands -- Bisleri (separate samples were taken from their units in Bangalore, Ghaziabad,
Calcutta and Baroda) and Bailley (Mumbai and Surat) -- were selected on the basis of their
dominant position in the overall market. Bisil (Mehsana), Golden Eagle (Chennai), Aquaspa
(Mumbai),Saiganga (Ahmednagar), Nirantar (Thane), Trupthi (Chennai) and Yes (Nadiad) were
included because of their regional popularity. To conform to international standards for such
testing, 21 bottles of each brand were tested in the CERS laboratory against "analytical" and
"sensory" parameters as well as for "microbiological" contamination. To ensure fairness, the
results were sent to the individual companies for their comments.
So how safe is bottled water? Not that safe, says the CERS survey. As many as 10 of the 13
brands had foreign floating objects in clear violation of norms. None of the brands tested was
free from bacteria although the consolation is that they were not of the harmful kind. Two of the
big brands contained toxic heavy metals much higher than permitted levels. The term "mineral
water" is misleading because our laws do not stipulate the minimum mineral content level
required for water to be labelled as such. All this from a sector that is flourishing because of the
public fear that water supplied by civic bodies is impure.

Water resources over-exploited

The majority of the bottling plants are dependent on groundwater. They create huge
water stress in the areas where they operate because groundwater is also the main source - in
most places the only source - of drinking water in India.This has created huge conflict between
the community and the bottling plants.
Private companies in India can siphon out, exhaust and export groundwater free because the
groundwater law in the country is archaic and not in tune with the realities of modern capitalist
societies. The existing law says that "the person who owns the land owns the
groundwater beneath". This means that, theoretically, a person can buy one square metre of
land and take all the groundwater of the surrounding areas and the law of land cannot object to
it. This law is the core of the conflict between the community and the companies and the major
reason for making the business of bottled water in the country highly lucrative.
Take for instance the case of Coca-Cola's bottling plant in drought-prone Kala Dera near
Jaipur. Coca-Cola gets its water free except for a tiny cess (for discharging the wastewater) it
pays to the State Pollution Control Board - a little over Rs.5,000 a year during 2000-02 and
Rs.24,246 in 2003. It extracts half a million litres of water every day - at a cost of 14 paise per
1,000 litres. So, a Rs.10 per litre Kinley water has a raw material cost of just 0.02-0.03 paise. (It
takes about two to three litres of groundwater to make one litre of bottled water.)
On April 7, more than 1,500 villagers defied a police cordon and marched to Coca-Cola's
bottling plant in Mehdiganj village, Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh state, demanding that the
company immediately shut down its bottling plant. In January, the New Delhi-based Energy and
Resources Institute (TERI) advised Coca-Cola to shut a bottling plant in the drought-stricken
state of Rajasthan.
India's Ministry of Water Resources has ranked 80% of ground water resources in Rajasthan
as "over- exploited" and nearly 34% resources as "dark/ critical", the gravest ranking across
the country
Bottled water companies earn high profits
What is amazing is that people are prepared to pay Rs. 12
for a liter of water-in India especially when the cost of material
input (0.25 paisa per liter excluding labors cost) pales into
insignificance before the price of the product.
Up to 40% of bottled water comes from the same source as
tap water, but is sold back to consumers at hundreds of times
the cost, says the website of the North American "Think
Outside the Bottle" campaign. Not only the Coca-Cola but
there are thousands of brands in India's $445 million
packaged water industry.
Not just bottlers are involved. In south India, thousands of
fuel trucks converted to be water carriers sell ground water to
households and establishments at about $10 for 5,000 liters.
More than 13,000 tankers carry water drawn from farmland
surrounding Chennai, according a social activist R
Srinivasan. He estimates a $148 million tanker industry is
cashing in on Chennai's acute water scarcity. The story is
replicated across India, including in New Delhi.
Plastic Bottles Pollution
Tap water is a local product that needs no packaging. Globally,
bottled water accounts for as many as 1.5 million tons of plastic
waste annually, according to the Sierra Club. In addition, billions of
bottles end up in the ground every year. Sadly, only 20% ever get
recycled, according to the Container Recycling Institute. The other
80%? Besides landfills, many bottles end up in oceans, posing a risk
to marine life. By purchasing bottled water, you’re indirectly raising
the price of gasoline and contributing to Global Warming and
climate change.
In 2007, the manufacturers of plastic water bottles generated more
than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions and required the
equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil, according to the
Pacific Institute. Americans drank more than 30 billion single-
serving bottles of water last year. Yet the vast majority of us have
an unlimited source of clean, EPA-regulated tap water flowing from
our faucets.
 Plastic Bottles requires costly Oil
Making the plastic in the bottles requires 47 million gallons of oil annually. And
that doesn’t include the jet fuel and gasoline required to transport the bottles-
sometimes halfway around the world.
The anti-bottling protests
The anti-bottling protests in India echo increased concern in Europe and the
United States over the proliferation of bottled water, including the creation of
billions of soon unwanted plastic containers. In India, protests against the bottling
plant in drought-prone Kala Dera near Jaipur focus on the source of the
packaged water and how bottling companies are grabbing underground water.
The truth is, many water companies get their water from sources in developing
countries, such as India and Fiji. In those places, the companies take water that
once belonged to an entire village and buy it for themselves, forcing the villagers
to pay for water that they used to be able to use as a community, free of charge.
Furthermore, local water sources are polluted in these areas by bottling plants so
that the many who cannot afford privatized water have to walk miles and miles,
often through intense heat, just to access clean drinking water..
Pro-tap water consciousness
The London Evening Standard newspaper ran a "Water on Tap" campaign in April to have
tap water available for drinking in city restaurants and bars. The tabloid reported getting
support for its anti-packaged water campaign from the London Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, the mayor's office, leading restaurants and chains such as Starbucks, Costa Coffee
and McDonald's. Following growing pro-tap water consciousness, bottled water sales in Britain
dipped 9% in the year to March 08.
Economists at the California-based Pacific Institute that estimated the $100 billion value
of the global industry, ask why consumers are readily paying for bottled water typically costing
a thousand times more per liter than high-quality municipal tap water.
"Are consumers willing to pay this price because they believe that bottled water is safer than
tap water?" Pacific Institute experts ask. "Do they have a real taste preference for bottled
water? Or is the convenience of the portable plastic bottle the major factor? Are they taken in
by the images portrayed in commercials and on the bottles?"
The study, conducted by the US-based Earth Policy Institute, says the global consumption of
bottled water has grown by 57 per cent over the past five years, despite the fact that the
product is often no healthier than tap water and costs up to 10,000 times more. Emily Arnold,
the author of report, says that the $100 billion spent each year on bottled water is nearly 7
times the sum invested in providing safe drinking water in developing countries.

Bottled Water law in India

The term "mineral water" is misleading because our laws do not stipulate the minimum
mineral content level required for water to be labelled as such. Ahmedabad-based Consumer
Education and Research Society
(CERS), an independent non-profit institution with a sophisticated product-testing laboratory,
recently carried out a detailed study on 13 major brands of bottled water available in the
country. As many as 10 of the 13 brands had foreign floating objects in clear violation of norms
found in the survey. The CERS study indicates that there is an urgent need to revise standards
for bottled water.
Health Issue-Purity of bottled water
City water systems must issue “right to know” reports about what’s in the water. Bottlers
successfully killed this requirement for bottled water. Up to 70% of bottled water is unregulated
by the Food & Drug Administration. Acceptance of the supposed purity of bottled water is
being undermined in India by the government Health Department's warning of pesticides and
contaminating organisms being present in some bottled products.
The notion that commercial products taste better has also taken a knock from Decanter, a
British magazine, which last December featured top wine tasters testing unmarked samples of
water from 22 brands, along with tap water from utility company Thames Water and water from
the Decanter office water cooler.
The Decanter panel ranked serviced tap water third in the list, above the world's leading
brand, Evian (15th), and the world's most expensive bottled water 420 Volcanic (18th) and
Bling H20 (22nd out of 24 brands tasted). 420 Volcanic sells at $99 a liter, and Bling H20 (in
Swarovski crystal-studded bottles) at $79 a liter. Decanter editor Guy Woodward said the
tasting test exposed the "outrageous" prices of mineral water.
Traditional Indian methods of cooling and purifying water
Now people of India turning their backs on the country's ancient
methods of cooling and purifying water. Stored in earthen pots,
for instance, it is not only refreshingly cool and tasty but is said to
become bacteria-free. Yet the common summer sight of water
matkas (earthen pots) in public offices and spaces is giving way
to upturned plastic drums dispensing packaged water.
Rainwater is safe, doesn’t bring about adverse effects.
For centuries people have thought rainwater as unsafe, but
contrary to their beliefs, as per an Australian study, drinking of
untreated rainwater is safe for human health. The study was
conducted under the auspices of eminent researchers from
Melbourne’s Monash University. The entire team took a look at
300 homes that used rainwater collected in water tanks as their Bottled water Manufacturing
primary drinking source.This endeavor has been described as a plant
world first study that comes in the midst of growing criticism of
bottled water.
New development in bottled water industry
TN Govt urged to take over the sale of bottled water
The Tamilnadu Water Supply And Drainage Board (TWAD) Workers Federation on May 15, 2010 suggested the Stat
government take over the sale of bottled drinking water and make it available at Rs. 2 a litre. The State government wh
generating a huge income from sale of Indian made Foreign liquor (IMFL) through TASMAC outlets should think of mak
available good drinking water to people, Federation General Secretary P.H.C.M.Gandhi said here.
The government could earn revenue of Rs 5,000 crore even if it sold water at Rs. 2 a litre, he said adding that multi-n
and private companies selling packaged drinking water were earning crores of rupees as profit whereas actual cost of p
water was less than five paise per litre. TWAD should be fully in charge of surveying, designing, execution and mainten
all water and drainage schemes and empowered to collect water and drainage tax also, he said.
Go Green
In December 2010 at the Copenhagen Climate talks, organizers wanted to go as green as possible and so they did no
provide delegates bottled water and instead offered Copenhagen tap water in corn starch cups.
Close illegal bottled water units, says HC
To prevent the spread of water-borne diseases in summer, the Delhi high court has directed the government to tighten
noose around illegal units manufacturing and selling bottled drinking water on May 31, 2010.
Justice S Muralidhar directed government agencies to crack down on units manufacturing and selling drinking water wit
licence and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification. It also constituted a committee
for the purpose.
The HC was hearing a petition filed by Bottled Water Processors Association. The association moved the court, allegin
are a large number of units in Delhi not complying with norms.They also claimed that despite the central government’s a
being drawn to illegal manufacturers, no action was taken to stop such activities. HC constituted a task force against un
without a licence and BIS certification.
Formation of Indian Beverage Association (IBA)
In July 2010 rivals Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have come together along with other beverages makers and bottlers to for
Indian Beverage Association (IBA), which will be the industry’s single point of interaction with the government and help
companies comply with food safety guidelines and other regulations.
Juices maker Dabur, packaging company Tetra Pak, bottling companies Pearl Drinks and Bengal Beverages, energy d
maker Red Bull, and drip and sprinkler systems firm Jain Irrigation Systems too have joined the association, while abou
others including Bisleri International, Parle Agro, Amul, Godrej, bottlers, vendors and suppliers are expected to join in d
course.
“Non-alcoholic beverages are on a growth trajectory but so far there has not been a comprehensive organization repre
the industry. We felt it’s time,” said Arvind Varma, secretary general of the association. He said the organisation will be
alcoholic beverages industry’s single point of interaction with the food safety authority and ministry of health. It will help
members deal with challenges like complying with the food safety authority guidelines, double taxation, VAT, state-leve
controversies like allegations of water depletion (as is the case with Coca-Cola and PepsiCo), sugar imports, spurious d
and more.