Bottled water market has emerged as one of the most rapidly growing and competitive markets
world over. The global bottled Water industry is a multibillion dollar industry. India is among the
top ten countries in terms of bottled water consumption. Today bottled Water is one of India’s
fastest growing industrial sectors. Indian bottled Water industry pegged at USD 1454 million in
2011 will jump to reach USD 3925 million by 2017.
Some facts about the bottled water industry in India as listed by a market research agency are:
 Rising disposable income
 Growing organized retail
 Rising awareness among the consumer segment and growing focus on product extension
and quality
Now let me introduce some more facts on bottled water for our understanding.
1. To begin with let us understand the economics of this water. Bottled water costs about 10
Rs/ litre in small bottles and about 4 Rs/litre in bigger volumes. This is 500- 2000 times the
price of tap water. Can we afford this kind of a price?
2. Bottles used here, when exposed to sunlight and heat, release organic chemicals like
Bisphenol-A (BPA) that leach into the drinking water. BPA can cause breast cancer and
other types of cancer.
3. Bottle water is also not environment friendly because water that can be easily transported
by pipes is transported by vehicles, packaged with thin plastic labels and most bottles are
disposed off and not recycled. Almost 85% of the bottles are thrown away, which means
15001 plastic bottles end up in trash every second.
4. Now the most interesting fact about plastic: Plastic bottles are produced from petroleum
product which could otherwise be used as fuel for vehicles. The total volume of carbon
dioxide produced from the plastic bottle industry is 25, 00,000 tonnes annually.
What is this all worth?
The customer pays one hundred billion2 Dollars for bottled water annually across the world. This
is beyond any Government bail out in recent times. With a fraction of this amount, everyone on
this planet could have access to clean and safe tapped drinking water and proper sanitation.
By drinking bottled water,
· We spend more
· We pollute the earth
· Risk our health as not all bottled water is safe any way.
There are other alternatives like tap filters, filter fitted jugs, metal bottles and home treatment
systems. It is probably time we looked at these less expensive, environment friendly options.
Every time you pick up a bottle of packaged water, think if it is genuinely needed.
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According to Environmental Think Tank, The Earth Policy Institute (EPI)
According to Environmental Think Tank, The Earth Policy Institute (EPI)