Ramdev’s Patanjali set to launch bottled water during Diwali

NEW DELHI: Yoga guru-turnedbusinessman Baba Ramdev has now set his eyes on the packaged drinking water market. His company, Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, is preparing to launch Divya Jal packaged drinking water— sourced from the foothills of the Himalayas—across north India this Diwali.

The company will make Divya Jal available nationwide over the three to six months, said Ramdev’s spokesperson SK Tijarawala. The sales target for 2018-19 is ₹1,000 crore. The company will start bottling of drinking water at its factories in Haridwar and Lucknow, said Tijarawala. Patanjali may look at other options like a third-party contract with bottling firms, joint ventures and may also look at reviving stressed bottling plants as volume grows, he added.

While this will be a commercial launch of packaged drinking water, Patanjali has been bottling drinking water at a factory in Lucknow managed by Patanjali Gramodyog, a sister concern of Patanjali Ayurved. This was not sold in the market, said a senior executive of a beverage company, who asked not to be named.

The Lucknow plant is capable of bottling 100,000 litres of water every day. Tijarawala, however, declined to comment on the pricing of Divya Jal.

Patanjali is not be the first company to market drinking water that has been sourced from the foothills of the Himalayas. NourishCo, a joint venture between Tata Global Beverages Ltd and PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt Ltd, sells Himalayan branded packaged drinking water that the company claims to have sourced from the foothills of the Himalayas.

The packaged drinking water market in India was estimated at ₹7,040 crore in 2016 and is projected to reach ₹15,080 crore in 2021, according to research firm Euromonitor International.

Bisleri leads the bottled water market with an estimated 24% value share. Other key brands include Aquafina, marketed by American food and beverages company PepsiCo Inc, and Kinley, sold by American beverages maker Coca-Cola Co.