According to Marzin R Shroff CEO, Direct Sales & Sr.

Vice President, Marketing

Eureka Forbes Ltd, The current (April 2016) market size for water purification in
India is Rs. 3,400 Cr. We are anticipating the market size to be Rs. 9,000 Cr (By
2019).
http://projectvendor.com/water-purification-market-size-rs-9000-crore-2019/
According to Mahesh Gupta, Founder Chairman, Kent RO, the penetration of RO
water purifiers is hardly 1.5 per cent of the total households. He has also shared
that the present market share of the small and unorganised companies in this
industry is 46 per cent and most of the independent researches indicate that this
share is going down to less than 30 per cent by 2018. This clearly indicates that the
industry is undergoing consolidation, and soon the unorganised sector will pave the
way for expansion of big brands.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/water-purifier-business-isundergoing-consolidation/article7074375.ece
The overall market penetration of water purifiers is around 11% of the total number
of households in the country.
http://www.sourcinghardware.net/shrd/node/845
According to TechSci Research Report, India Water Purifier Market Forecast and
Opportunities, 2019, the water purifier market in India is dominated by Reverse
osmosis (RO) water purifiers due to high TDS (total dissolved solid) level of water
across majority of the states coupled with strong purification capability of RO
technology for high TDS water purification. The RO water purifier market in India is
largely consolidated, with around 70% share being held by 10 players. Eureka
Forbes and Kent RO are the market leaders in this segment, together accounting for
about 50% market share in 2013. HUL, Nasaka, and Ion Exchange are the other
major players operating in this market. The market is also witnessing entry of new
players, with one latest entrant being Livpure, a Luminuous Technologies brand.
Other big players such as LG and Panasonic have not been able to capitalize on the
available opportunities in the Indian market, especially over the last few years.
https://www.techsciresearch.com/news/227-eureka-forbes-overtakes-kent-in-rowater-purifier-market-in-india.html
The RO based water purifier leads the home water purifier market with a share of
nearly 53% and is predicted to witness huge growths. Competition in the market
sector is intense as small brands are providing high-quality products at much lower
prices. Manufacturers are investing heavily in branding initiatives to increase their
consumer base. For instance, Kent RO Systems launched the Save Water campaign
in 2014 which created a huge impact on consumers and propelled the growth of
their Kent RO purifiers.

http://www.technavio.com/report/water-purifier-market-in-india-2015-2019-researchand-industry-analysis
The domestic water purification industry is growing at the Compounded Annual
Growth Rate (CAGR) of 24 percent.
The industry is projected to hit sales of nearly 2.48 million units in the next two
years. However, the penetration is still low and estimated at one percent only,
India's largest water purifier brand Kent RO chairman Mahesh Gupta said here.
However, he added, there was increasing awareness about safe drinking water in
cities such as Agra, Jodhpur, Varanasi and Udaipur.
He was in town to launch the 'Kent Superb', which is claimed to be the world's first
smart RO water purifier equipped with digital and patented mineral RO technology.
The touch operated purifier is equipped with a micro-controller which senses water
quality and displays it on digital screen. It also senses and displays total dissolved
salts (TDS) in the purified water.
Having 40 percent share in the RO market, Kent is looking at Rs 1,000 crore
turnover by 2016-17. The company, which has a manufacturing unit at Roorkee, is
planning to set up new another facility with an investment of Rs 100 crore.
http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/water-purifier-market-growingat-24-sales-to-hit-2-5-mn-units-in-2-yrs-116042000751_1.html
India's water purifier market was growing with a CAGR of 21.24% over last five
years
Based on technology, the market is segmented into RO, UV and offline water
purifiers. As per sales revenues, RO water purifiers dominated the market in 2014,
followed by UV filters and then gravity based offline purifiers. RO water purifiers are
the costliest among all the three technologies; however rising awareness about its
advantage over other purifiers are making it increasingly popular. For a long period
Eureka Forbes had dominated the RO category but Kent has now overtaken the
leading position.
However, both the companies are at striking distance and trying hard to stay ahead
by innovating and promising good after sales service. On the other hand, water
purifiers with UV technology are fast declining due to less innovation.
Offline water purifiers, which are the non-electrical water purifiers and require no
electricity to pure the water, are expected to grow at a very rapid pace. Offline
water purifiers are the future of industry with huge potential, given the crippling
power shortage that most of India experiences said Anita Patil, Research Analyst.

The growth of the offline segment will largely be attributed to low pricing and
enhanced penetration across rural population and households. Moreover, this
segment is a key focus area for water purifier manufacturers, due to the large target
customer base it offers. Presently a combination of UV, ultrafiltration (UF) and RO
systems are also available in the market.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160107005524/en/Research-MarketsIndia-Water-Purifier-Market-Outlook
The origin of Kent RO can be traced to Chairman Mahesh Guptas tinkering with
reverse osmosis in his south Delhi house. (Reverse osmosis is a purification
technology that removes salt and effluent materials from water.)
This was in the mid-1990s when the water purification market was dominated by
ultraviolet purifiers, and reverse osmosis (RO) was relatively unknown. It was still an
untapped market when Gupta launched his company 14 years ago; Eureka Forbes
wasand remainsthe market leader. Today, Kent has a 30 percent market share in
the RO space. (Eureka Forbes has 36 percent.)
The undeniable growth notwithstanding, Gupta faces his toughest challenge yet. In
the last 2-3 years, heavyweights such as Tata Chemicals, Panasonic, LG and HUL
have entered the RO water purifier market, posing a threat to Kents dominance.
Sitting in his office, surrounded by new prototypes of RO water purifiers, Gupta, a
mechanical engineer from IIT Kanpur, appears unperturbed by the growing
competition. He argues that the industrys full potential is yet to be tapped. The
penetration of water purifiers is 4 percent, of which RO water purifier penetration
must be about 1 percent, which leaves room for all of us to grow.
According to management consultancy Technopak Advisors, the organised water
purifier market is pegged at about Rs 3,500 crore, and is growing at 20 percent
every year. With a compounded annual growth rate of 30 percent since 2005, Kent
has been expanding faster than the market. But other companies that have entered
the space have brand recall and high marketing as well as the R&D heft to displace
Kent from the number two spot.
While Kent is looking to enter the Rs 1,000-crore club in two yearsGuptas
deadlineit will have to work harder at retaining the second spot in the market. The
advantage that a Tata or a Panasonic has over it is brand recall. There is a generic
trust attached to the Tata name, says Parag Gadre, head, water purifier business at
Tata Chemicals. Tata launched RO purifiers in Kolkata and Bangalore in January
2014, and aims to have a presence in 25 cities over the next quarter. Over the next
6-9 months, we will launch products at both lower and higher price points, he says.
Thus, keeping Kent ahead of the pack will be Guptas first challenge.

The 60-year-old began his career with Indian Oil in 1978, but left 10 years later to
launch Kent Oil Meters. We made oil meters that helped people monitor the
quantity of oil they consumed, he says. Then, in 1998, his children Surbhi and
Varun contracted jaundice, a water-borne disease that claims many lives even
today. It forced me to think of installing a water purifier at my south Delhi home,
he says. But Gupta couldnt find a good purifier in the market. The only purifiers
back then were the UV ones, which didnt remove dissolved impurities. I had heard
about the reverse osmosis technology, which removed soluble matter, so I imported
parts from Taiwan and made a purifier for my home. (At that time, market leader
Eureka Forbes wasnt into RO purifiers.)
The home-made purifier worked well. It struck me that there must be a market for
it, says Gupta, who started manufacturing purifiers at his oil meter factory, with a
seed capital of Rs 5 lakh. The first RO purifier he made for his family cost about Rs
50,000. But after he started Kent, he sold the purifiers for Rs 20,000. I made some
25 purifiers in the first batch. Very few people bought it, because this was in 1999
and Rs 20,000 was a big amount, says Gupta. Today, the company manufactures
4.5 lakh purifiers in the Rs 16,000-18,000 range.
The manufacturing happens at a factory in Rourkee, Uttarakhand. To keep pace with
its growth, the company is building a new plant in Noida, which will be operational
in two years.
http://forbesindia.com/article/big-bet/can-kent-ro-win-the-water-war/37916/1

Bangalore alone accounts for sales of about 35,000 units of water purifiers
annually with over 100 local companies operating in this domain selling
products laden with local and imported components, the study said.
Denizens of Bangalore face water shortage to the extent of about five
thousand million cubic metres with almost 25 lakh Bangaloreans facing
water scarcity per year.
http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/water-purifier-industry-toreach-rs-7-000-cr-by-2015-112060100168_1.html
The LG company had introduced premium purifiers three months ago at 40
outlets of Delhi NCR and Bangalore priced in the range of Rs 22,990 to Rs
44,290.
http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/lg-eyes-double-digitmarket-share-in-water-purifier-segment-114062600755_1.html

Other Useful Links:

http://gadgets.shiksha/top-three-best-water-purifier-in-india-for-home-use.html
http://www.sourcinghardware.net/shrd/node/845