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-is-undergoing-
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-ro-water-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-research-and-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-growing-at-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-Markets-India-Water-
Purifier-Market-Outlook

The origin of Kent RO can be traced to Chairman Mahesh Gupta’s 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 was—and remains—the 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 Kent’s 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 industry’s 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 years—Gupta’s deadline—it 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 Gupta’s 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 couldn’t find a good purifier in the market. “The only purifiers back then were the UV
ones, which didn’t 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 wasn’t 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-to-reach-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-digit-market-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