The Hindu Business Line : Focus on standards at drinking water expo

Pune, Jan 7 To create awareness about drinking water conditions in the country, a taskforce has been formed by the Philadelphia-based Water Quality Association (WQA) in India. The taskforce will hold its first review meeting in New Delhi during the 6th EverythingAboutWater Expo on January 28-30.

Mr H. Subramaniam, Vice President, EA Water Pvt Ltd, told newspersons that the taskforce, which comprises about 100 companies, has three sub-committee looking into aspects of certification, training and information respectively.

The sub-committees have drawn up a first draft, which would be submitted to the taskforce.

He said the taskforce would create industry standards and promote training and education. It is expected to bring together 50 major purification companies in the country. The expo would largely focus on the needs of consumers, the industry in India and product performance standards.

Indian scenario

Commenting on the Indian scenario, Mr Subramaniam said the water purification market has about 2,000 players and is valued at Rs 8,000 crore.

Of this, about 50 companies have turnover exceeding Rs 100 crore and the organised segment has a market share of 30 per cent. The companies were largely concentrated in the Pune-Mumbai belt, Chennai and Delhi.

Mr Subramaniam also said that the packaged drinking water segment is valued at Rs 5,000 crore and comprises about 1,500 manufacturers across the country.

The organised segment has a market share of 50 per cent.

Chinese competition

He said Chinese brands of water purifiers and pumps were making inroads into the Indian market. The absence of standards allows easy entry into these segments, he said. Chinese brands established nearly 100 partnerships last year for distribution and assembly work, he said.

Largely concentrated in Gujarat, especially in the Ahmedabad-Baroda belt, these partnerships generated turnover of Rs 500-700 crore, he said.

Besides the Chinese, Taiwanese companies too were entering the Indian market, he said.

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