How to start mineral water plant business in India | Step by step guide

How To Start Mineral Water Plant Business in India

Mineral water is water from a mineral spring containing minerals like salts and sulphur compounds. Based on the presence or absence of added gases, mineral water may be classified as "Still" or "Sparkling".

Mineral water has become a primary need for every individual these days. Opposed to the regular tap water, people are now turning to mineral water consumption which is safer and healthier. The increasing consumption and demand for mineral water call for more and more water plants in the industry. Many entrepreneurs are investing in the business, referring to the never-ending demand for mineral water.

However, anyone can start a water plant business even on a small scale.

All it takes is just the right information and primary resources to do so.

Here, we walk you through the steps that suggest how you can start your own Mineral Water Plant Business and survive in the market.

Know the difference between Packaged Water and Mineral Water Before moving forward to the detailed business plan, you have to understand the difference between packaged drinking water plant and mineral water plant. This is the common confusion people often come across during their business venture.

Packaged drinking water or Bottled water plant:

The significant difference is that packaged drinking water does not contain any minerals. The bottled water is a processed borewell/groundwater, which involves the process of reducing TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) with the help of RO (Reverse Osmosis) process.

Mineral Water Plant:

Mineral water plant requires the water that comes from natural sources like spring water and mountain water. The water consists of minerals, which are healthy for humans. Sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium etc. Are few of such minerals found in mineral water.

1. The market opportunity for Mineral Water Business Mineral water has now become the basic need of people which gives an opportunity of growth to mineral water bottle businesses. Growing demand makes the mineral water industry one of the fastest-growing sector, which reached to RS 162 billion in 2018. It was due to the increase in the number of domestic and foreign tourists in the last 5 years. Mineral water businesses are certainly proving to profitable these days; there were 370 water supply units across the state of Tamil Nadu.

Along with thousands of small-scale mineral water suppliers in the market, Indian railways turns out to be a vast potential market — the travellers across the country work as a thrust to these small scale businesses.

2. Licenses and Registration

Any businesses, either small scale or big scale, require different certification and licenses from government authorities. The permits and certification requirement list may vary based on different state governments. Therefore we recommend you to check up on the state government laws. a) Registration of firm b) ISI certification from Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) c) Food Safety and Standard Authority of India d) Pollution control certificate e) Water test report from an authorized laboratory f) Pest control certification

3. Area and location for the plant

Setting up a mineral water plant requires minimum 1000 sq ft of space.

You can split the manufacturing area where one is for machinery and processing of water and other is for the storage of raw materials and the processed mineral water bottle as well. While selecting the location for the business ensure that it is easily accessible to the target market, also, make sure that the chosen location must have enough source of water and energy supply.

4. Process of water purification

Water purification requires a well-developed process. The basic raw materials required for mineral water plant manufacturing is, of course, raw water. Raw water can be easily available from the natural resources of water or municipal corporation supply lines. Below is the list of other required raw materials:  Reagents  Chemical  Bottles  Bottle caps  Pouches  Cartons

5. List of machinery Different types of machines are used in mineral water processing. You need to select the right machinery as per your capital investment and desired packaging. There is an option for fully automatic machinery and semi-automatic machinery, go for whichever fits your budget.

Below are some of the major machinery and equipment required for the mineral water plant business:  Storage Tanks  Treatment Tanks  RO (Reverse Osmosis) Plant  Sand Filter  Activated Carbon Filter  Chlorination Tanks  Micron Filter  Ozone Generator  Water Sterilizers and Dispensers  Ultraviolet Disinfection System  Electronic Doser for Alum and Chlorine  Water Filling Machines  Bottle Wrapping Machine

6. Water purification process steps

Step 1 - Collect the Water Raw water is collected in the storage tanks through pumping; it is kept in storage where water is dozed with alum for coagulation with insoluble matters and heavy metals.

Step 2 - Remove Impurities Let water settle for an hour so you can remove the impurities present in water with the help of osmosis technique.

Step 3 - Bubbling Chlorine Gas Processes

Then the purified water is transferred to the chlorination tank where the earliest disinfection is brought about by the bubbling chlorine gas process.

Step 4 - Sand Filteration After step 3, water is passed through the sand water filters where filters trap undissolved impurities.

Step 5 - Carbon Filteration Then removal of colour, odour and dechlorination process takes place through carbon filtration Step 6 - Micro Filters After the dechlorination process water is passed through the microfilters for final disinfection. The process is followed by ultraviolet disinfection system.

Step 7 - Bottle Filling After that, mineral water is passed through a bottle filling machine, then further sent to the capping machine where bottles are sealed with caps with the use of ozone generator.

Step 8 - Packaging After passing through all the processes, finally, the mineral water is safe to drink and packed for transportation and selling.

7. Marketing, Branding and Selling The quality of your product decides the criteria for your success. Your marketing strategies need to be linked to and relatable to the market you are selling your products to. Study your target market and build a distribution network.

Summary

However, like any other businesses, even mineral water plant business will need time to bring you profits. Work on your marketing strategies, capture the market with your branding strategies; this is the key to make your presence visible in the market. Start promoting your brand once you start with the production process.