While moving in Chennai, at Murugan Idli near Egmore, I asked for “Bisleri” water; which has become a slang for Pure Water in India. Asking for Bisleri is telling the guy like “Please give me pure, good,safe hygienic bottled water“. Obviously, whichever brand he serves is acceptable. However, a little better informed person like me goes further & checks something minimum like the ISI mark on the same (Its compulsory). If I don’t observe that, then at least the fssai mark.
So, the guy served me a bottle, which very much looked like a regular packaged drinking water bottle, costed Rs.20 as all the others, and was marked “TATA WATER PLUS”. The brand “Tata” made me very curious as it has a proud feeling in almost all Indians. And this was not Packaged Drinking Water, it was called as “Nutrient Water“
A 1 Ltr Bottle of Tata Water Plus
I studied the labels in detail and found out, that it is “Nutrient” Water; which is a JV by the Tatas & Nourishco Beverages, which has several plants where it is manufactured. We did search one of the license numbers, and found the following results :-
You may check “Yuthish Industries” , status as “Operative“
The Licenses from the manufacturer are also active. Both : the BIS as well as the fssai, plus the brand/business owner : Nourishco. Hence all is well.
The why this water is not “Packaged Drinking Water ?”
The manufacturer’s premises is used, which is under the BIS, however, the brand which is packed “Tata Water Plus” is not BIS compliant, hence it is not Packaged Drinking Water. Rather, it’s a choice of the brand owners to be different & to offer Nutrient water, which is a proprietary food.
Whenever someone is thinking of going for a Low Cost Mineral Water Plant, there can be 2 -3 ways :
Starting a low budget mineral water plant , with ISI
Starting an RO Plant with Chiller , without ISI
Starting a Mineral Water Business, with someone else’s production unit
Starting a Low Budget ISI Water Plant
Starting an ISI Water Plant requires you to be aware of Mineral Water Plant License Cost. It means installing all machinery confining to the B.I.S. Standards as per IS-14543, which is the standard set for Packaged Drinking Water (Technical Name for otherwise called “Mineral Water”). The cost of such a plant will include the cost of lab, Filling Machine, Plastic PET Blow Machine and plant construction as per ISI.
Going for Low Budget is actually going for a small scale mineral water plant. You will need to cut down the Mineral Water Plant Machinery Cost. For Example, instead of going for a 60 BPM machine you can go for a 24 BPM machine, or you can totally avoid the Bottles Manufacturing. In such a case, you can go for a small Jars Plant or Pouches Plant (if permissible in your state). If you are going for all 3 varieties like Bottles, Jars & Pouch; and still want to have a low cost mineral water plant, then you may need to get the bottles manufactured by some other source. This can cut the investment size-ably. Check the plastic pet bottle blowing machine price to know this. You can refer to the BIS website for the BIS rules & can also refer to the Cost Article to get more ideas on an ISI RO Plant Project Cost.
Can RO Plant with Chiller be the Option ?
Chilled Water Non ISI Jars
People often confuse these type jars with the BIS approved 20 Ltr Transparent Jars, also called as “Bubble Tops”. There will be huge difference between a 20 Ltr Jar Mineral Water Plant Price (ISI) & an RO Plant with Chiller Price in India. As the former confine to ISI standards and the latter doesn’t. RO Plant with Chiller is NOT covered under the BIS premise, hence you always run a risk of your unit getting sealed, though clear policy is still to arrive.
Starting a Mineral Water Business with Someone else’s Production Unit
This means you will just own the brand, do marketing & someone else with a valid BIS license & production facilities will produce the bottles or Jars for you. This will save you from Mineral Water Plant Machinery Cost, Mineral Water Plant License Cost and you can be perfectly achieving your goal :- Having a low cost mineral water plant project.
This is also referred as “Co-Packing” Business. A new term emerging. It can be started with a very low investment compared to a manufacturing unit. You can refer to the special Playlist we have created on our Youtube Channel. We also offer consultancy for this called as “Tri-Party Consultation“.
Having own , even a small water bottling plant is always an edge over getting it done from outside. But this can be a viable solution for those who wish to start with a very small budget. Look at the following success story :-
Packaged Drinking Water Plant Layout design is a very important step in setup of a plant. It not just gives a picture of how, what, where the elements are places, but also an effective tool to improve your overall plant efficiency.
Steps to Arrive at your Plant Layout
1. Mineral Water Plant Design and Plant Capacity
We have typically observed that this is the place where the entrepreneurs make maximum mistakes. Whenever, an idea of a Packaged Drinking Water Plant strikes to them; they hurriedly google it. Then Google, from it’s most intelligent sources puts results in front of them, which are dominantly the best which Google’s algorithm feels. They are usually the results (including the paid searches) from the mineral water Plants or the machinery supplier directories like the Indiamart, Alibaba etc. Their Job is to give the best to their advertisers, hence they prompt you with questions, the answers of which may be totally unknown to you. Then you just follow what the machinery supplier tells you (like 2000 LPH or 5000 LPH etc) which becomes YOUR plant capacity. Then the suppliers only decide your layout.
Is Google wrong ? Or Alibaba ? Or the Suppliers ? Or You ?
None of all actually. Nobody is wrong. But anything happens incorrect here does not hamper anyone else like you, as your money will be at stake. So it calls for you to actually know your plant capacity yourself.
Little reverse engineering here
You have to work little reverse. Its just like buying a Car. The first thing before you even go to a Car Showroom, You define the purpose for which you buy and then go to enquiry. Similarly, you need to know as to why you are setting up a Packaged Drinking Water Plant. Obviously, it’s to make some money. But more precisely, you need to know How will the money come to you. There will be something which you will sell, so what’s that ?
Is it going to be 1 Ltr Bottles ?
Or just 20 Ltr Jars ?
Or a Combination of Jars & Bottles ?
Just 1 Ltr Bottles , or also of 500 ml ?
Or you are willing to introduce some odd volume size ?
And how many bottles will you sell ? Daily, Monthly ? Annually ?
The Answers are tough, I know !
It’s not easy at all to find out answers to all these questions in advance , before starting a plant. But believe me , we have observed that 80% of entrepreneurs DO NOT KNOW this. And this can be the major reason of their failures.
How Can You Find this Out ?
By carrying out a Market Survey , you can do that. It can be a Physical Survey or a Digital, or a combination. You can hire some agency or can do with some guerrilla technique. We give some special tips to the participants on these during the Idea to Actualization Sessions .
The survey should produce you figures on how much per variation you will produce per day. This will be your production plan. From this you will exactly know the plant capacity.
2. A little reverse-work here !
Once you know the Plant Capacity, get details of the machinery & dimensions as well. This is the next step to design your Packaged Drinking Water Plant Layout. Also be aware of the rules of the B.I.S. on space allocations. (We share you details of this during our training sessions by which you understand how much space the machinery demands).
3. Design Man-Material Movement
Placing the machinery at proper locations demands exact know-how of the process flow. According to the process, design your plant in such a way that your workers need the least to and fro movement; so that they work with good energy levels. You also need to have a look at the BIS norms, which might be the guiding stones to maintain proper hygiene. However, most entrepreneurs do not emphasize this point of considering the human fatigue while designing their Packaged Drinking Water Plant Layout.
4. Mineral Water Machinery Placement :The last step
Once you allocate proper place for the machinery & equipment, your Plant Layout will be ready.
Learn the techniques first hand ..
Join our Training Courses, and design your Packaged Drinking Water Plant in a professional manner. Just pick-up the suitable session from the list provided on the Training Schedule Page and attend one. There are 100s of entrepreneurs attended this & almost 30% of them hace already started their businesses.
People call it as “Bisleri Water Plant“; however, it’s actually a Packaged Drinking Water Plant ( as per the BIS specifications). It’s Bisleri, who first brought the concept of most purified water in India. Very generally, people still call it “Bisleri” water. It’s the way the brand has penetrated in India.
If you are willing to setup a Packaged Drinking Water Plant in India ..
People also call it “Mineral Water Plant” very generally. So, if you are willing to know the cost of such a plant, the cost is divided into the following heads
One Time Costs
Land & Building Cost
Machinery and Equipment Cost
Consultancy Cost (Project Consultancies
Vehicle
Other 1 Time Purchases
Recurring Expenses
Purchases & Consummables
Manpower
Electricity
Licenses & Renewals
Bank Costs
Once you calculate this in detail, and put your financial projections for certain years on paper, you will know the R.O.I. ; the Return on Investment. This will give you the decision on the type of plant to go for.
If you are looking for Loan for Mineral Water Plant …
First, Correct your vocabulary
Why am I saying this ? It’s because generally you may say “Mineral Water Plant“, however, technically you should really mean that. There are 2 technical terms for this …
Packaged Natural Mineral Water and
Packaged Drinking Water ( Other than Packaged Natural Mineral Water )
These standards are set by the B.I.S. ; the body which issues an “I.S.I.” license to anyone who wants to sell Bottled Water in India. Hence it is very important for you to say this correctly. You should know first whether you are going to do a business in which of the 2 kinds of Bottled Water. All other kind of Bottled Water (Like Flavoured Water) are still not under the B.I.S. framework ; hence I won’t talk about that.
It is very important to talk correctly about the product for which you will be asking for a loan. The officers sitting at the opposite desk judge you by various methods. This is fundamental. It tells them that you have done sufficient groundwork.
How much Loan you need for your Mineral Water Plant ?
Exactly how much is the amount you will require for your mineral water plant is the Total Investment for this project. This is the Capital Investment, the money you require towards the machinery, land and other permanent establishments, one time.
Another type of amount which you might require is the ongoing kind of money for various needs such as day to day purchases & consumables, salaries, overhead expenses, fiscal expenses like Bank EMI, interest, Legal expenses and much more. This will be the Working Capital.
(# Please read a special article written on Cost Components to know more)
Once you are clear about these, you can draw your own financial projections. For this, you can take help from any financial consultant like a C.A. or some voluntary organizations like the B.Y.S.T. (in Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai) or De Asra (In Maharashtra only). The consultants will charge you more in comparison to these organizations, however, a consultant makes it specially for you.
What kind of report can you get from them
Usually people go for “Project Report” which is a very popular term for the Bankers. These consultants will offer you a project report for your Mineral Water Plant. A Project Report is a statement which tells the Bankers , on exactly
How Much money the proposer wants ,
and how is he going to Repay the same, in a stipulated time,
and indirectly this also tells the bank, exactly how much money they will make from this, in form of Interest (which is the Banker’s Business)
In other words, the project report is a sales document for the entrepreneur and not just a “yet another legal document“.
It tells you how much money your business will make
First, it tells you exactly how much money your business will make from your proposed project. From this money, you will pay the Interest on the Loan for your Mineral Water Plant. Hence bankers will see first, whether your project really is capable of doing so. For you it may be the first time of setting up a Bottled Water plant; but for bankers, it’s an everyday affair. They might have seen many more cases than yours and the might be driven by some prejudices about this industry itself.
Your Document needs to convince them
The Project Report which you will take to the bankers, will need to convince the bankers that …
The Industry is growing
How your business is going to generate profits
How will the banker benefit
To do this, how much exact amount you require
Your inputs for making the project report are vital
The Consultant agency or an individual practitioner is not an expert in the industry domain i.e. Packaged Drinking Water. It’s you whose inputs will be required while preparing the project reports. So, it’s important that you should collect all this necessary information prior to going to these people.
How can you get these details ?
Searching the suppliers online & approaching them individually 1 by 1
Asking one of the existing plant owner & getting them
Yes, you actually will need to do a lot of legwork before you actually start going to a bank etc. However, a direction can be had by some experts in this domain like what we run a live training on “Idea to Actualization of a packaged Drinking Plant“. In this most of your initial doubts will get clarified. Since 2015, we have been conducting this, and there are many success stories. During this we do have a special session on “Cost Comparison” of various plant types & also train the participants on how to arrive at the capital cost exactly. Do check the next training & attend that.
Bankers will never fund the entire amount. You will need to be ready with your own contribution. Usually 25-30 %. There are many agencies like the SIDBI, which helps you in the seed capital. Meaning, they will fund some 10% in the own capital (redcing your burden by 10%).
Get Ready with Collateral Security & Guaranteer
Collateral Security is some part of asset which you can pledge with the bankers till the tenure of your loan. Once you repay, it’s freed. For this, the consultants will help you a lot.
Guaranteer is a physical person, who knows you well, and stands guarantee that you will repay the loan and if not paid, Bank can collect the EMI or the interest from you.
(This sounds little harsh, but why will someone unknown fund you ? He will, provided he gets assurance besides the profit assurance by the Project Report.)
There are schemes where you don’t require a security or a Guaranteer
True. There are certain schemes from the GOI where you don’t require both of these or at least can skip the guaranteer. A Scheme called CGTMSE is already in place and many other schemes by the GOI. The institutions like the BYST will help you in getting that.
Look for Subsidy issued by the Govt Schemes
Subsidy is some kind of encouragement given in form of some fiscal benefit to the entrepreneur for setting up his enterprises, to encourage employment. There are 2 kinds of subsidies :-
Subsidy by Central Govt
Subsidy by respective state Governments.
Refer This Website for getting details about subsidies. However, here are a few notable points :-
Central Govt has just 1 scheme running for years through which you get 15% investment back (On the machinery value).
This amount should not be more than 15 Lakhs. In other words, projects above 1 Cr of investment in machinery won’t get this subsidy.
This gets deposited into your bank account directly by RTGS, when it’s available & sanctioned.
There are many consultants which may help you to get this. They will charge their professional fees.
Besides the Central, State Govt also float certain subsidy schemes, kindly approach the District Industries Centre (D.I.C.) in your respective state for that. Agencies like De Asra might be of help to you in this.
If you are applying for a subsidy; inform the bank in advance.
Summary of steps before applying for Loan for Mineral Water Plant
Get proper domain knowledge
Decide Which Kind of Project you wish to setup
Calculate your exact need of Finance.
Look for Subsidies
Prepare a project report
Apply to the Bankers
If you have doubts …
You can comment or ask a query in form of comments. Or can shoot a mail to mineralwaterpune@gmail.com or can simply fill a contact form
