SABMiller, the world’s second largest brewer in terms of volumes, launched its packaged mineral water and soda under its premium beer brand Foster’s in Hyderabad on Sunday.
“Earlier, mineral water and soda, as a segment, had been a way of surrogate branding for us. Now it is our core business. A lot of multinational players are entering the arena, including Bisleri, which already has 35 bottling plants and is planning 50 more in Andhra Pradesh. Hence, we didn’t want to be left out in this potential business,” Satish BN, manager (business development) of SABMIller’s India subsidiary SKOL Breweries Limited, told mediapersons here.
Currently available across 10 states, and priced at Rs 15 per litre of mineral water and Rs 10 per 500 ml of soda, SABMiller has been selling 150,000 cases of these two products a month, since their launch in 2007.
Stating that the organised mineral water and soda market in India was pegged at Rs 2,500 crore, and growing at 25-30 per cent year-on-year, Satish said Andhra Pradesh stood second contributing 20 per cent to this total market, with Tamil Nadu accounting for 26 per cent.