Tata Tea plans a marketing boost to Himalayan mineral water

Tata Tea's Himalayan brand of bottled mineral water is set for a big makeover, a year after the company acquired it from the Balsara group's Mount Everest Mineral Water. The company is increasing capacity and is set to announce new plans to leverage the brand.

While Tata Tea has not yet revealed its plans, Percy Siganporia, managing director, told an analysts conference that the company has carried out the required updating and upgrading and capacity addition.

"There will certainly be growth in the current format. We are also looking at scaling up a step. Details will be out soon" said Siganporia.

Himalayan is a natural water brand, with majority of its business being institutional. Natural water segment is growing at 15 per cent annually. The market size for bottled water is Rs1,200 crore, and only 10 per cent of this is natural water.

Natural water differs from regular packaged water in that it is packaged at its source in its present form and involves no process. Himalayan has a bottling plant in Himachal Pradesh, with a bottling capacity of 2.5 lakh litres per day.

And, as things stand, "Himalayan" is the only internationally accepted quality natural mineral water from India, regularly exported to the US and sold in "Marsh" supermarkets and pharmacies there.

Himalayan is graded equivalent to `Evian' and `Vittal' from France. Practically all other brands of bottled water in India are chemically treated.

Tata Tea, which has been aiming to establish itself as a global player in beverages, could put its Glaceau experience with the enhanced water maker Energy Brands Inc into use with Himalayan.