Bottled water industry in India

The global bottled water market estimated at USD 250 billion in 2018 is growing because of an acute awareness of the importance of safe drinking water for maintaining good health. Even the taste offered by the bottled water is playing a major role in the increasing demand in the market. Key players include Nestle, Danone, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, and the maximum sale of water bottles comes from the retail sector.

The bottled water market in India was estimated at 160 billion Indian Rupees in 2018 and is growing at a CAGR of 20%. It was expected to cross 400 billion rupees by 2023. In terms of volume, it translates to a whopping 35 billion litres. But these figures could see de-growth because of the COVID pandemic. The four main pack-sizes are 250 ml, 500 ml, 1000 ml and 2000 ml. 5 litre and 20 litre jars are also widely available. The 1 litre bottle is the most common and widely sold pack-size, contributing to nearly 40 percent of the market share, followed by 500 ml, 250 ml and 2 litres.

There are around 150 registered brands being bottled over 6000 locations across India. As per government bodies, namely Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), bottled water is governed under two categories: Packaged Natural Mineral Water and Packaged drinking water. The bottling plants are concentrated in the southern part of India, with 55% plants in four states. A bottling plant typically comprises machineries for water processing, bottle blowing, filling and capping, labelling and packing. Blowing machines are the starting point of the water bottle, and they range from manual and semi-automatic to fully automatic, producing bottles in the magnitude of thousands to lakhs every single day. The speed of these machines is expressed in terms of bottles per minute (bpm) or bottles per hour (bph). Key brands include Bisleri, Bailley, Kinley, Aquafina, Himalayan, Oxyrich, Rail Neer and Vedica, to name a few. Bisleri has the largest market share and is bottled across over 120 plants in India, followed by Kinley, Aquafina and Bailley.

Awanti Polymoulds manufactures blow moulds for water bottles of all pack-sizes to suit various blowing machines made by Sidel Synergy, Electropneumatic, Shyam Plastic among many others. With an experience of over 3 decades in the industry, Awanti is proudly associated with Bisleri, Bailley, Kinley, Oxyrich, Himalayan and many other brands for years together.

Bottled water industry is an ever-growing industry and Awanti aims to be a part of the success story of every Indian water brand!