Water is one among the basic necessities of human beings and the health awareness among the people and shortage of water in most parts of India has brought development in the mineral water industry in India. According to a survey, there are about 200 bottled mineral water brands in India and nearly 80% of them are local brands. Making of bottled water has become a cottage industry task nowadays in the country.

Most of the cities and even small towns of India have bottled water manufacturers. The industry of mineral water is dominated by some of the top players in India, whose brands are being consumed in larger numbers and the names of these players are given below:

Top three players in the Mineral Water industry in India:

• Bisleri International

• Coco-Cola’s Kinley

• PepsiCo’s Aquafina

Some of the details regarding these top players in the bottled water industry are given below:

Bisleri International:

As the name of the company implies, Bisleri is an international company with its headquarters in the state of Maharashtra in India. They have been operating in the sector of bottled mineral water right from the year 1969, the company is powered by 11 franchisees, 33 co-packers, and 17 owned plants in India. They also have a wide distribution network in different parts of India and in foreign countries as well. Before the production of purified water, the water used in Bisleri bottled water goes through six-step purification process. Bisleri has been made a benchmark in the bottled mineral water industry in India due to their focus on customer needs and commitment to quality & innovation.

Coco-Cola’s Kinley:

Kinley is a brand of carbonated water or still owned by the Coco-Cola Company, which is one of the highly consumed product in the bottled water industry. This product is being sold not only in India, but in Pakistan and many other Central European countries as well. The carbonated form of this water is used as mixers and it is also available in different fruit flavors. It is not only sold as carbonated water, but is also sold as high quality bottled water readily available for consumption. This bottled water is being sold in the form of 500 and 1000 ml pet bottles.

PepsiCo’s Aquafina:

Aquafina is another popular name in the bottled water industry in India and this product is from Pepsico Inc., which is a United State based company. The water used in Aquafina bottles are derived from local municipal water sources, which goes through several stages of purification like ozone sterilization, ultraviolet and reverse osmosis filtration to make it a bacteria-free water. This product is not only sold as normal water in 500ml, 1000 ml and 1500 ml pet bottles, but is also offered as flavorsplash in different flavors like lemon, strawberry, grapes, etc… Recently Pepsico has introduced a new range of pet-bottles called as Eco-fina bottles that are environment and health friendly since only 50% of plastic is used in the manufacture of these bottles.

In addition to these international players like Coco-cola and Pepsico, there are also national players like Indian Railways, SKN Breweries, Mohan Meakins, Kingfisher, Manikchand, Mount Everest, etc…Industrial analysis predict a great improvement in this sector in the near future due to increasing water shortage in different parts of the country. Even though, Pepsico and Coco-cola were trying to capture the Indian bottled water industry, Bisleri from Parle still holds the first position in the bottled water industry in India by holding 40% of market share. This is followed by Aquafina and Kinley with 10% and 20-25% of the market share respectively. The rest of the market is captured by smaller players with 20-25% of the market share.