About 70 units treat, pack, and sell drinking water in Coimbatore, supplying packaged drinking water to households, companies, retailers, and for events.
Unlike cities such as Chennai, where almost every household buys packaged drinking water, the demand in Coimbatore is more spread across different segments of consumers.
Apart from the regional players, there are national brands and companies from other cities too that sell packaged drinking water here, especially in the pet bottle segment. “It is a market with potential. Even cities such as Salem and Tiruppur and towns like Dharapuram are getting new players. This season, I saw five or six new brands enter the market here,” said the manager of a leading packaged drinking water company here.
There are 6,124 BIS licensees in India (IS 14543), including 1,628 in Tamil Nadu and 73 in Coimbatore.
“In a city where the municipal water supply system caters to the needs of most of the residents, the demand for packaged drinking water from households has remained stable compared to cities such as Chennai,” said R. Thirunavukarasu, president of the Coimbatore Regional Packaged Drinking Water Manufacturers’ Association, covering Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode and the Nilgiris districts. The demand increases during festival and wedding seasons.
Caterers ask for packaged water for cooking too as drinking water supply by the local bodies is not available at all the function venues. Apart from corporate companies, institutions, and offices, the demand for packaged drinking water is high here for functions, sources in the sector say.
However, in the recent years, in Coimbatore, apart from the municipal water supply, many apartments and corporate companies are going in for RO plants and have their own supply of water. While the national brands have a major share in the pet bottle segment, which is the largest in the packaged drinking water sector, substantial demand for the regional players come for bubble-top cans.
According to an official at the District Industries Centre (DIC), the packaged drinking water sector involves two main factors - tapping groundwater and processing the water. The units need to get permission to tap groundwater. The Central Ground Water Authority has categorised areas as over exploited, critical, semi-critical, and safe zones to tap groundwater. Industries can come up in safe zones. There are only two blocks in Coimbatore that are under the safe category. The Bureau of Indian Standards issues licences and monitors the processing of water. Most of the manufacturers in Coimbatore are micro, small, and medium-scale, starting a unit with an investment of ₹20 lakh to ₹25 lakh. It is difficult for these units to scale-up.
There are just a few players who cater to other cities apart from Coimbatore. This is an emerging sector and new norms are formed for the units to comply with. But, there is no clarity on some of these rules. For instance, groundwater availability and tapping is a challenge for the sector, says Mr. Thirunavukarasu. “All of us have the BIS and FSSAI licences. It is also mandatory to have in-house testing facilities. But it is not viable for most to scale-up. Some, who did try to do so, have closed down,” he adds.
According to the manager of one of the leading companies here, it is a cost competitive sector with pricing playing a critical role. Maintenance of the processing facilities requires constant investment. The units need to follow the norms in disposing the treated waste water. The cost involved for these and to market the products across the city is the challenge that many of the manufacturers face. In fact, there are players who sell packaged drinking water only for three or four months, during summer.
However, implementation of the norms should be stringent so that there is no spurious product sale and to ensure quality of the product, he says.