Sweltering heat lifts demand for water pouches in state

The early summer this year has brought cheer to the drinking water pouches business. This mostly unorganised industry sells more than twenty lakh pouches every day in the state.

The market is so lucrative that majors in the bottled drinking water industry have also entered into the business, although on a small scale.

Water pouches, containing 250 ml of water (Rs 4 per litre), are available for one rupee at almost every roadside stall in the state. With the sweltering summer heat, sales of this chilled water have shot up. In comparison, a one-litre bottle of packaged drinking water costs between Rs 10 and 12.

Office bearers of the Federation of Packaged Drinking Water Manufacturers (FPDWM) say around 20 lakh water pouches are sold daily in the state. "There are about 110 manufacturers of packaged drinking water all over the state, who have licences and an ISI certification to pack and sell drinking water," said Jay Shah, co-ordinator of FPDWM.

The sale of water pouches is a seasonal business and there are several days in the monsoon and winter seasons when the water pouches sold are less than five per cent of what are sold in mid summer.

"In other seasons, sales could even be zero, but manufacturers and vendors make sizable profits in summer," said members of the organisation.

Ahmedabad is the largest market for these pouches, selling around two lakh pouches every day. The FPDWM says there are 16 manufacturers of water pouches in the city, all of whom have an ISI certification by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

"Around two lakh pouches are consumed in Ahmedabad daily. People purchase these pouches because they are cheap," said Shah. Manufacturers say they share profits to a large extent with vendors, who sell the pouches. They sell 100 pouches to vendors for Rs 30 to 35. The vendors thus earn around Rs 65 on the sale of every 100 pouches. They, however, have to spend for the cooling apparatus.

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's Medical Officer of Health (MOH) P K Makwana says all manufacturers in Ahmedabad operate in line with the requirements of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). "We are, however, carrying out regular checks at the manufacturing facilities of the companies to test the purity of water supplied," he said.