Pure magic

New Delhi, Oct. 17: Now you can get pure water from Gangotri, conveniently packaged in bottles, right in your homes — courtesy Bisleri.

Ramesh Chauhan’s Bisleri mineral water suffered considerable sales damage after the Centre for Science and Environment allegedly found high levels of pesticide residues in Bisleri packs.

The company is now trying to reach out afresh to customers by launching Bisleri Mountain Water tomorrow.

According to sources, the new brand would target airlines, 5-star hotels and other premium users and would be sold at a premium price of Rs 20 a litre against Rs 12 for the plain Bisleri.

Chauhan’s launch comes days ahead of Coke’s plans to start test marketing its Aquarius mineral water and Minute Maid fruit juice in Mumbai later this week.

Chauhan is known to have had a love-hate relationship with Coca-Cola to whom he sold the Thums Up brand. He had created Thums Up after Coke was thrown out of the country in 1978 by the then Janata Dal government.

Sources said Chauhan had already invested Rs 10 crore to set up a 1.1-lakh-bottles-per-day manufacturing plant in Himachal Pradesh, and a 1.5- lakh-bottles-per-day facility in Uttaranchal.

These two facilities — built around natural springs — will provide water containing minerals from a natural source and would be packaged under the Bisleri Mountain Water brand, sources said.

Analysts said packaged drinking water makers were keen to introduce new concepts like pure spring water to differentiate from ozone-treated and filtered bottled water.

Traditionally Indians associate Gangotri, the source of the river Ganges, with purity, and brand analysts say Bisleri is hoping to cash in on this psychological association in its sales pitch. The move was expected to give Bisleri a renewed edge in a crowded market of over 200 packaged water brands in India, sources said.

With the Rs 1,000-crore bottled water industry in India growing at a rate of 40 per cent a year, and with mineral water accounting for one third of the entire segment, companies are looking at this market as a great opportunity.

Analysts predict that the bottled water industry would reach Rs 5,000 crore by 2010.

Chauhan also plans to unveil flavoured water without sweeteners in flavours such as cinnamon and nutmeg; and an energy drink on the lines of Red Bull, sources said.

Godrej is also entering the mineral water segment with its range of bottled mineral water Aava, sourced from the Aravalli.

Meanwhile, Seabuckthorn Indage, the makers of Lee Berry juice, will launch its range of bottled spring water by the end of November.

Analysts said as more and more Indians take to bottled water in the hope of avoiding water-borne diseases, the plan to shift to packaged water could bear fruit for these companies.