Durables, FMCG majors steam up water purifier mkt

With the threat of water-borne diseases looming large, companies entering the water purifier segment say there is a high demand.

In May, consumer durables manufacturer Philips debuted in the Rs 450-crore water purifier market with Ultra Violet-based Philips Intelligent Water Purifier. Philips is also planning to launch a low-cost purifier for the rural market, a senior company executive said.

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever's (HUL) first venture into consumer durables started with the test launch of Pureit in 2005 in South India. The company is now planning to enter other states. Eureka Forbes' Aquaguard has already established its presence in the market with a 6 million consumer base and 20 different products. While HUL priced Pureit at Rs 1,600, Philips' water purifier is priced between Rs 8,500-12,000.

"HUL is planning to double its capacity and extend it in a phased manner across the country," HUL Chairman Harish Manwani said.

Both HUL and Philips are planning to use high-end technologies to kill water-borne germs.

Philips' product is a state-of-the-art UV-based purifier, whereas HUL has a combination of "sustained chlorine release" and "compact carbon trap" in a germ-killer processor.

"The marketing of Pureit leverages Hindustan Unilever's significant strengths in consumer understanding, supply chain, distribution, mass media, and consumer relationship management. To build consumer penetration rapidly, we have opted to focus our resources around mass media advertising, and providing consumers the ability to see demonstrations of the product inside their homes," the company said.

In spite of the segment becoming crowded, the players feel that the problem of water-borne diseases is so huge which will bring in new initiatives.