As taps go dry a bit too soon and the mercury fluctuates its time for the packaged water industry to 'tap' the thirst market. As various cities continue to bear with less supply of water through the local water bodies, the only option left for the consumer is to go in for packaged water.
"As per our study, the demand for water in Delhi is around 3,800 million litres per day while the Delhi Jal Board is able to provide only 2,100 million litres per day (after taking into account pilferage and supply losses) though they claim to provide more. Hence, we see a gap of 1,700 million litres per day," says S V Suresh Babu of the Centre for Science and Environment.
The CSE study shows a big gap in the demand and supply of water in Delhi. Sources in Kinley, another major player in the packaged water market and claiming to have over 22 per cent of market share says, "Majority of Kinley's market lies in the six metros ie Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore."
"Metros usually have a huge floating population and hence there is added pressure on water supply," adds Babu. Along with the packaged water sector, unorganised segments like private water tankers, roadside vendors are also raking in profits.
"Since the water supply is short, we depend on both the DJB as well as private water tankers says," Suman Pai, resident of B1 block, Vasant Kunj, one of the posh area of the capital and also witnessing one of the worst water shortage.
"This year, DJB has been quick to our responses though at times we have to bribe the drivers with Rs 100 even though the entire procedure is supposed to
be free.
"We end up paying huge money to private water tankers the cost of which goes into few thousands," says G Gurumurthy, resident of Dwarka, which also witnesses water shortage. "Total size of packaged drinking water business as per our study is estimated around Rs 1800 crore (Rs 18 billion) and is further poised to grow at around Rs 2,200 crore (Rs 22 billion) by 2010," says Balajith Shetty, project head, Manickchand Oxyrich, a brand of bottled water.
The expected growth in the market and increasing competition has seen new players entering the market and market stalwarts launching new variants. Bisleri, which recently launched the 'Natural Mountain Water' is equally optimistic about the growth.
"The growth prospect for this segment is unlimited," says Ramesh Chauhan, Chairman, Bisleri. One of the main market for every packaged water company is Chennai which witnesses huge consumption of bottled packaged water. It is estimated that there are times when the city has seen the sale of packaged water shooting up by nearly 10 lakh litres a day.
"Chennai is known for the presence of small water packets that cost Rs 1 for 250 ml. These do brisk business and emerge as what is known as 'Water Lobby.' Roadside water vendors selling a glass of water for Rs 50 paise found almost on every road in the capital are also happy with the rising heat.
"This cart can store nearly 500 litres of water and I end up selling around half of it. Summer is a good business time for us" says Raju Kumar, a vendor in Connaught Place. With a harsher summer looming ahead, the water business segment is poised to see fierce competition.