Packaged Water In India

The Globalized economy made the water as a “Blue Gold”.  Water is the commodity for which people and countries are waging war! The following “Maps” shows the conflicts of Water in World dated from 1 BC to till date. [View the Gallery below].

The water levels are dropping rapidly, the figure shows the total area of the water resource lakes 50-60 years ago and today.

Water Levels in Lake around world

Only 2.5% of the all available water is Fresh water, nearly 69.56% of fresh water is Frozen in Glaziers.

Water demand is steadily increasing since 1990, the 2005 year data reveals that the demand was about 80 Million+ cases, it is probably reached 100 Mil.

The demand is primarily because of the in-efficiency of Government organization in meeting the demand and need of the people. Scarcity of potable water especially at the travel locations, Increased water borne disease.

The first bottled water industry in India was established by an Italian named “Signore Felice Bisleri” and the brand Bisleri was founded in the year 1965. The bottled water industry’s growth is expected to be 36000 crore in 2020.

A resourceful article in the internet claims that out of 1200 bottling plants in India   600 located in Tamil Nadu alone. These bottling plants source of water is Ground water which is unregulated water by policy of Government.

The Cost for manufacturing the Packaged water is given below,

The Total manufacturing cost including the labour is not more than Rs. 8/- it has been sold at the price of Rs. 15/-, which is about 50+% profit.

A study by a non profit organization CERS reveals that the amount of pesticides residues present in the bottled water brands were well above the norms set by European standards and high pesticides residuals were found.

Amidst all, the packaged water industry is growing at a significant rate and the demand is expected to raise above the predicted numbers. The biased policy  and lack of environmental concerns will likely to result the natural water resources into the hands of Private MNC’s and where by the drinking water will become commodity. government organazations such as Chennai metro water, Delhi Jal Board, Delhi Railways and State Government of Tamilnadu have entered bottled water business. The “Amma Mineral Water” is a unique initiative by the Tamil Nadu state government in the Bottled water industry.

This article is just covered the tip of the iceberg, and lot many things needed to write about the “Packaged Water Industry” which we will be writing in future.

Source: World Water Organization Sources: Strategic Foresight