Mahesh Gupta, a first-generation entrepreneur, is known worldwide for revolutionizing the water purification industry in India. He is the Founder-Chairman of Kent RO Systems Ltd., India’s leading water Purifier Company. Mr. Gupta, an IIT graduate from Kanpur in Mechanical Engineering and an alumnus of Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, began his early career in 1978 with prestigious IOCL. In 1988 he bid goodbye to the oil sector giant and with a minimal seed capital at his disposal, ventured into the business of manufacturing instruments for oil testing and checking its pilferage. He went commercial under the brand name KENT OIL METERS which went on to be a successful business.
There are many factors that have an effect on the Indian home appliances market such as dynamic pricing, government initiatives and its utilities, marketplace dynamics covering product pricing, retail environment, competitive landscape, the approaches adopted by suppliers and growing interest in smart home technology.
As far as the Indian water purifier sector goes till 90s there was no such industry that existed in India by the name of WATER PURIFIERS. A handful brands were trying their fate in this sector by selling very conventional purifiers through door-to-door marketing.
But, who would have thought that in a couple of years, Indian water purifier industry will become one of the most lucrative sectors for national and international consumer durable brands to peep in and have a pie of over 3500 crore industry.
Increasing industrialization coupled with growing consumer awareness regarding ill-effects of consuming poor quality water will further continue to drive the water purifiers market in India through next couple of years.
As per the report published by TechSci Research report “India Water Purifiers Market By Technology, By Sales Channel, By Region, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 – 2021”, the water purifiers market in India is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of over 21% during 2016 – 2021.
The primary growth facilitators of world water purifier market include rise in levels of disposable income of customers, increased incidences of waterborne diseases, industrial development leading to water pollution and rising concerns towards health. However, increasing demand for packaged drinking water acts as a restraining factor, limiting the growth to a certain extent. Low market penetration in rural areas is amongst the major challenges faced by the players due to lack of awareness towards health and sanitation.
Water purifiers are equipment enabled to remove biological contaminants, suspended solids, toxins, harmful gases & chemicals, bacteria, fungi and other such impurities from contaminated water and making it safe for drinking. The penetration of water purifiers is relatively higher in developed regions while huge semi urban and rural areas in developing countries still remain untapped. Water purifiers emerged as a primary necessity for urban consumers in developing economies, since a decade, due to an increase in the level of water pollution. Countries such as India and China are likely to unfold attractive business opportunities in the water purifier market in the coming years, due to the huge customer base and high levels of water pollution.
Deteriorating water quality coupled with rising awareness about the health risks associated with consumption of impure water are the primary drivers for the water purifiers market in India. Moreover, escalating industrial activities, increasing water pollution and growing per capita income are further expected to boost demand for water purifiers in the country during forecast period.
Top Factors Impacting Indian Water Purifier Market
New Product Development
The renowned market players have focused on launching well-equipped products with advanced water purification technologies. These players have heavily invested in research & development activities. Water purifier brands are coming out with patented technologies such as Mineral RO TM Technology! With this technology water purifiers retains essential natural minerals in purified water using the TDS Controller, thereby providing 100% safe and tasty drinking water. It also utilizes double purification for 100% Pure Water. The advanced technology removes dissolved impurities, retains essential minerals and boasts of multiple purification techniques combining RO, UV, UF and TDS control to make water 100% pure.
Besides, today other technologies such as revolutionary Save Water Technology™ offer a best water recovery rate of more than 50% and the rejected water percentage is reduced to less than 50% and the wasted water is stored in a separate tank.
This industry also boasts of 3rd generation RO water purifier, the digitally controlled RO water purifier with which the users have access to real time information of how impure is the water that they are drinking. The Smart RO purifier keeps users updated about the machine’s performance, the quality of water, filter change alarm and many other digital and helpful features. These products have IoT connectivity, which means; one will be able to connect it through WiFi and will be able access the whole performance data on their Smartphone’s. So this is how fast this industry is progressing and will continue to do so over the next couple of years.
Deteriorating Quality of Water
Diminishing quality of water is a serious health hazard. It poses huge risks to health causing various water-borne diseases. The declining water quality is a result of dumping untreated sewage, chemicals, pesticides, nutrients and garbage from industries, agriculture and municipal corporations into water bodies. Most of the water supplied by municipal authorities in urban areas is unsafe to drink and requires further decontamination from heavy metals, virus, cysts, bacteria and other toxins.
With the current situation triggering the alarm button, people are now educated enough to understand that microbial and organic contaminants cannot always be perceived by human senses. And traditional methods like boiling water or distilled water are just not enough to get rid of contaminants like arsenic, nitrate and fluoride.
Also industrialization is expected to rise leading to increased water pollution in coming years thus further boosting an increase in demand of water purifiers.
Rising Demand from Developing Economies
Increasing disposable income, growing industrialization, and high rate of pollution and population growth in the developing countries boost the growth of the market. Improvement in standard of living and growing concerns of health & wellness are expected to boost the demand for the water purifier market in future. Therefore, the world water purifier market is expected to witness rapid growth in the developing economies in future.
Marketing and Positioning Strategies
The Indian water purifier market is highly competitive due to the presence of numerous players including the unorganized players. Market players are constantly making efforts to put into practice innovative marketing strategies such as free demo, free installation charges, good after sales services and warranty.
Companies have deeply invested in improving their services, promoting their brands, streamlining distribution channels, and collaborating with major players to spread out their market charisma. As the market has witnessed robust growth in the past few years, new players are likely to enter the water purifier segment. Rigorous marketing and positioning strategies have been adopted by companies to build brand image and attract new customers. Increasing competition amongst the key players would attract more investments in the market over the next few years.
Companies are working hard to get necessary certifications
Every brand speaks high of itself, but trust develops when an accredited certification body endorses the product/brand. In the case of water purification industry, Indian brands are working hard to get approvals of laboratories of international repute, like NSF, WQA and more recently ISI. They certified the products for its quality and efficacy.
So, these were some of the reason why Indian Home appliance market and water purifier market specifically will continue to grow in years to come. Our society is becoming smarter. People now want to take good care of themselves and their family members as they understand the need of a water purifier to keep themselves and their family safe from germs. Hence there is nothing that can pull back the growth of this sector.