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Mineral water on tap

Vinod Mathew

Water purifiers, whatever the tag, will soon be deemed passe. Upmarket households which insist on mineral water in hotels may be a sip away from doing the same at home. One is not referring to the bulk purchase of `mineral' water in big jerry cans a la c ommodity.

In the world of branded water where new labels challenge the seasoned ones by the day, what could be more chic than actually installing one's own mineral water manufacturing machine at home!

In a market, of late driven by a food consumption pattern that is largely health-driven, what can be more basic than clean water? Just as the many metros dig deep into the earth and come up with increasingly saline water, the time may have come for redef inition of water that could be labelled `potable'. Among the latest gizmos to hit the kitchen utensils segment is a miniature mineral water machine which was test-launched in Ahmedabad a few weeks ago.

Softel Machines Ltd (Softel), which has been in the kitchen appliances segment for the past eight years ever since it came up with the first Indian ice-cream maker for the household in 1992, is now ready to hit the market with MinerWa, the miniature mine ral water machine. Priced at Rs 16,400, MinerWa is eyeing Chennai as one of its `high potential' markets - whether it is the health-conscious households or small eateries, offices or even clinics - given the highly saline water that is available in most parts of the city.

Given that the annual mineral water market in the country is worth around Rs 1,000 crore and the water purifier market around Rs 500 crore, Softel feels convinced that it has hit upon the right product with MinerWa. The rationale is clear -- the upmarket clientele no longer looks at mineral water in the kitchen as luxury, but as a sheer necessity.

Says Anil Jain, Managing Director, Softel, and a mechanical engineer who has specialised in marketing from IIM-Bangalore: ``The commercial launch of MinerWa has taken us almost three years after the conceptual stage. Even now, we will be selective about the launch of the product as a national launch may come only one year down the line. Chennai and Ahmedabad are two obvious targets for us as the `total dissolved solids' in the former case would be about 2500-3000 ppm while in the latter it will be in th e 1100-2000 range. While the output target of MinerWa is 250 ppm, on par with the WHO norms, we may not be able to go below 450 ppm in Chennai and 300 ppm in Ahmedabad.''

Being pegged as a `handy mineral water manufacturer', MinerWa has output capacity of 6-8 litres per hour. As for the water treatment procedure, out of every 100 litres of water consumed MinerWa processes only 25 litres, the rest being used to flush out v arious salts and other particles. And, it is by highlighting the existence of many of these `particles' that Jain hopes to find many converts to the mineral water way.

``We are going about the selection of MinerWa distributors or franchisees in a very selective manner. The basic requirement is that they be experts in the field of water with a scientific temperament. It would be for us to impart marketing training to th ese specialists who may be from sectors such as water treatment for the boiler division in industries or involved in water softening in hospitals and large institutions. We are gearing up to train 50-60 such franchisees over the next one year before scal ing it up to 200-250 in two-three years,'' adds Jain.

It is Softel's bet that the entire country and even some of the neighbouring ones are full of potential users for MinerWa. Underlining the region-specific water-related health problems, Jain says West Bengal and Bangladesh have been battling the presence of arsenic in water. Obviously, the USP in this region will be MinerWa as the `arsenic fighter' while it will be plain old salinity in places such as Chennai and Ahmedabad.

Having closed the last fiscal with a turnover of Rs 22 crore, Softel is riding heavy on two products -- FoodPro, the mixer-grinder, and Sleek, the hand blender -- both endorsed by celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor. With the two products accounting for some 5 0 per cent of the group's turnover and the original product, the ice-cream maker, accounting for 10 per cent, there are as many as eight products making up the remaining 40 per cent business. Not surprisingly, Jain feels it is time for consolidated sales where one more product moves into the big draw category.

At Softel's engineering, design and R&D base in Gandhidham in Kutch, efforts are on to streamline the product portfolio in such a fashion that MinerWa on its own can account for 50 per cent of the total sales. Logistically, this would need the marketing back-up of nearly 250 franchisees. It appears as if Jain has his task cut out as Softel targets business to the tune of Rs 25 crore from MinerWa alone in the next two-three years as much would hinge on the availability of the water treatment experts he h opes to sign on as franchisees.