Bisleri plans to double capacity

Bisleri, the earliest entrant into bottled water in India, plans to double its capacity to capitalise on rapid growth in the Rs 1,200-crore market.

The company, that reportedly tops the list of takeover targets for beverage multinationals in India, is also planning a series of modern product formats like natural mountain water, flavoured water, soda in PET packs and even face sprays.

With the market growing at an estimated 40 per cent, Bisleri plans to add close to 15 bottled water manufacturing facilities with an estimated expenditure of more than Rs 150 crore, taking the number of its plants up to 50.

Company executives said six more plants would come up in Mumbai. At present, the company has only one plant in Mumbai, with a capacity of more than 0.75 million litres a day, which caters to the city and surrounding markets like Pune.

Bisleri plans to overtake Himalayan, at the top end of the market (mountain water) with its premium variant Natural Mountain water In six months. Himalayan, which was acquired by Tata Tea last September, is the largest player in the natural mountain water category in India.

Bisleri began operations at its new mountain spring at Rudrapur in Uttaranchal, last fortnight, Ramesh Chauhan (pictured), chairman, Bisleri International, told Business Standard.

"We plan to sell six million cases by March 2008," Chauhan said. Natural Mountain water sells at a 50-60 per cent premium to the regular Bisleri.

A bottle of Himalayan sells at Rs 25 and close to a million cases were sold in 2006-07. With Tata Tea taking charge, the company is expected to beef up its distribution significantly. Bisleri is confident that its one-litre bottle, priced at Rs 20, will make an impact in an increasingly health-conscious market.

The natural mountain water segment makes up about 2-3 per cent of the Rs 1,200-crore packaged water market, with such super-premium brands like French brand Evian that sell a bottle of water for more than Rs 80 at the top end.

The general market is dominated by Bisleri, PepsiCo's Aquafina and Coca-Cola's Kinley who sell packaged water that's tapped from underground sources.

Bisleri also plans to enter emerging categories like flavoured water by the year end. Chauhan said the range will be priced at a 100 per cent premium to the regular water and will be in a different packaging to ensure differentiation at the consumer end. The company is also looking at sweetened versions of the flavoured water, but will stay away from sugar or artificial sweeteners.

The company will start exports to the US, Europe, UK, UAE and Japan by the end of next month. Chauhan said that the water for export is being bottled at the plant in Himachal Pradesh.

The company is also test marketing face sprays. Internationally, Evian sells Le Brumisateur mineral water sprays that retail anywhere between $5.50 and $ 16.50 (Rs 220-Rs 660) a can.

Replying to a question about beverage majors like Coca-Cola and Danone vying for a stake in his company, Chauhan said he had no intention of selling out in the immediate term, or entering into any joint venture. "I am going to work for another 2-3 years and after that we will see. I have not yet decided to sell out," he said.

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To increase the number of factories from 35 to 50 in this financial year

New aquifer in Rudrapur, Uttaranchal operational in the last fortnight. Plans to produce and sell 4 million cases of mountain spring water by March 2008 and overtake market leader Himalayan.

Launching premium natural mountain water, flavoured and sweetened water, relaunch soda in PET bottles and even enter innovative categories like freshner sprays