India has been in the headlines for its water market cap. As per the recent study, the Indian water market is of around four billion dollars and its average growth rate is around 10-12 per cent per year. Companies from all around the globe have shown their presence in Indian market over the years. Most of the revenue is funded by the Indian government and to address the rate of growth, a graph has been shown in the picture which gives an idea about the business growth in water industry over previous years.

One could easily infer from the table that there is exponential rise in expenditure for increasing water demands.

BUISNESS DRIVERS

India’s population is growing at a massive rate, and there are more and more private households which are urbanised. As a result, the demand for drinking water is growing rapidly. It is doubtful whether municipal water utilities are capable of supplying sufficient volumes of usable water, and that free of interruption because most of the sources of municipal water supply are polluted to a level where in a growing country like India can’t afford to treat it with adequate quality.

Industries are under equal pressure. Many industrial companies have been forced to adopt water-recycling systems due to the scarcity of water. Growing public concern, media pressure and renewed legislation has left industries with no option but to install water treatment equipment. Many existing treatment plants need to be replaced or upgraded to meet the more stringent standards.  There is a national norm in India that stipulates no establishment with more than 50 people can be without a wastewater treatment plant.

 India is importing water treatment equipment from countries like USA estimating a market share of over 40 per cent. This data gives an idea how can Indian business flourish if we can manufacture various water equipment’s here.

WATER DEMAND

The usage of water is driven mainly by the following factors: -

• ~ Population: India’s population is expected to increase from 1.13 billion in 2005 to 1.7 billion by 2050.
• ~ Urbanization: The urban population is expected to grow from 29.2 per cent of the total population in 2007 to 55.2 per cent by 2050.
• ~ Per capita income: The per capita income is expected to increase from USD 468 (gross domestic product per capita) in 2007 to USD 17,366 by 2050.
• ~ Agriculture: Production of water-intensive crops is expected to grow by 80 per cent between 2000 and 2050.

COMMUNITY RO BUSINESS

Reverse Osmosis Technology for purifying the water and the safe water is sold at the outlets in jerry cans/containers, some through automated systems, and some through sales staff. The water committees though informal in their establishment in this context, have been trained capacitated to the extent where they can handle the administration, management, operation and maintenance. There are various tools that have been developed by the support entities to guide the water committees such as separate bank account, registry of operational information, book-keeping, addressing minor issues etc.