“We’re foraying into the extremely competitive packaged drinking water market through the ‘franchise’ route,” said Eureka Forbes CEO, Marzin Shroff.
The company will sell the product under the brand name AquaSure in 20-litre and one-litre bottles.
Eureka Forbes, which started the direct selling concept in India, has a 52% market share in the Rs 1,500-crore water purifier segment, with Aquaguard and AquaSure brands.
When asked why it’s entering the highly competitive market where there are many players, including the multinationals, Shroff said: “Our core expertise of direct selling is our differentiator. We believe this shall help us establish in the 20 litres ‘bubble’ segment that is currently dominated by local players. The existing customer base of over 10m users of Aquaguard and AquaSure are captive audience for bottled water launch.”
The bottled water segment is estimated to be worth Rs 3,000 crore, growing at an annual rate of 25%, and is dominated by Parle’s Bisleri, Manickchand’s Oxyrich, Tata’s Himalayan, UB Group’s Kingfisher, PepsiCo’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Kinley.
Eureka Forbes has already set up franchised operations for packaged drinking water in Andhra Pradesh and plans to enter Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat in a phased manner in the next 4-6 months.
“Our focus will be South India, Maharashtra and Gujarat … markets that constitute almost 65-70% of the bottled water market, to begin with,” said Shroff.
Source: The Hindu Business Line
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