WaterHealth International (WHI), is betting big on ‘mobile water dispensers’ and community installations to drive its next growth phase.
WHI has tied up with IRCTC to install about 550 water vending machines in phase-1 in railways stations in New Delhi, Jaipur, Kolkata etc. The Indian Railway Catering Corporation has about 8,000 potential locations in the national network.
Talks with STCs“While we hope to bag at least 25 per cent of these points, we are also in talks with State Transport Corporations,” said Vikas Shah, COO of the company, whose India base is in Hyderabad .
WHI has a proprietary product, which can be remotely controlled. It has been developed over 7-8 years of work based on vendor feedback. Costing between ₹7-10 lakh, the machines can be moved to desired locations at rail or bus stations.
“We are also in talks with State governments to promote them in crowded government offices,” Vikas told BusinessLine recently.
WHI has a goal of reaching potable water to 100 million people by 2020 with innovative solutions. It reached 5 million in 2015. With the present initiative, it aims to touch 10 million by end of 2017, he added. Vikas said the packaged water segment is declining in revenue, though volumes are still growing. In the long run, the movement against use of plastic will surely dent the business. Water in biodegradable packets of different volumes like 250 ml, 500 and one litre in the near future could gain currency.
Fortified water planWith its operations in pre-dominantly developing countries, WHI is also looking at introducing fortified water in the long term. Carbonated, flavoured and fortified with specific nutrients is the objective. Some of these are already available in a few advanced nations, he added. The company is into community, customer and institutional segments in providing water. At present it operates, close to 500 water health centres; about 50 WHC Dispensation Units and around 200 Water Vending Machines across the country.