Mineral Water Plant Cost Components

Last Updated: March 2026

Mineral Water Plant Cost Components – what are they ?

Mineral Water Plant Cost doesn’t just include the initial sum of money you require to start or setup the plant, in fact; it also includes the running cost & operational cost calculations. I shall go into details here, and shall list the major components one by one. 

Table of Contents

• Details about Each Cost Component :-
• How to Calculate this Cost ?
• Mineral Water Plant Cost & Setup FAQs (2026 Updated)

#Update ( Update March 2026 )

Though major cost components remain same, some additinal costsone may need to consider freshly.

From October 2024, ISI is no more mandatory for Packaged & Natural Mineral Water. You need only the FssaI. The FssaI license for a plant costs just Rs. 7,500 for a year against what it was like 1 Lakh + for the ISI. However, the BIS has also reduced its license fees & it is Rs 25000 for a Micro Unit. The Micro unit means the Capital investment upto 2.5 Cr as per the latest budget.

Let’s see whether it affects & how this affects the Mineral Water Plant Cost

1. The Capex will definitely come down, as the annual fees is reduced if you decide not to go with the ISI license. 
2. As FssaI hasn’t still made any statement about the Lab being compulsory, this also reduces the cost of a Lab, which was considerable. Effect : Capex comes down.
3. However, FssaI has also brought the SIT ( Scheme of Testing ), through which, the plant owner is required to maintain monthly test records on certain parameters, as well as six monthly & annual records for certain. In addition, the plant owner is also required to upload a report from External Lab, every 6 months. These all reports are by an external NABL, as well as FssaI approved Laboratory. This is an OPEX component. 
4. It does look like one doesn’t need a special Chemist/Microbiologist like the BIS was demanding, you still require a responsible technical person ( Science graduate or Food Technologist ). So, there may not be much change in the manpower cost on account of this aspect. 
5. The licensing process is made transparent, however, as Packaged Drinking & Natural Mineral Water have been declared as High Risk Foods, it has annual inspection & FssaI has made it clear that they will have a strict monitoring over quality. This affects serious maintenance cost which is an Opex Component, Operational Cost increases. 
6. While Registration itself, the FssaI asks for submission of NOC by CGWA, for Groundwater usage. This adds up 2 costs : The Consultancy charges for compliance ( Capex ) and the groundwater charges ( Opex ). Check This Video for check how much this could be.
7. While applying for license itself, you have to declare the “Recall Procedure” under the FssaI. This calls for a very strict & methodical approach to run plant. This is a cost. 

How can we be useful to you for this

We already have included specific Costing focused sessions in Trainings.

In the extended version, you can get your costing verified & validate.

If your whole plan calculation is ready, you can just get our Aqua Finance Metrix Service, through which you can cross verify your plant calculation

In case, you believe you already possess business experience, and do not wish to spend time for getting trained ( it’s just 1 hr a day, in evening, mon-fri for 2 weeks, Online, Live Session – no recording ), but want to have an overview through quick session + Aqua Finance Metrix, You can check our “1:1 Orientation  + Aqua-Finance Metrics ” Service. This and additional services are posted on our page : consultancy

Is it required to be considered by an Entrepreneur?

Yes. I don’t say, you should be a cost accountant; but you should know what will the costs be in order to run the business profitably. Often entrepreneurs are seen to be madly driven by emotion alone. Their decisions should base on Emotion + Data. This costing awareness will prepare their enterprise to be run in profits over the years.

 

Details about Each Cost Component :-

# Machinery & Equipment

This Cost Component consists of the costs towards the following :-

(1) Cost of Borewell :-

The Borewell is required to extract Groundwater from Land. It depends upon how much water you will require for the plant to run. However, the Groundwater is not at our will. It differs from place to place, season to season. But solely, the cost of a Borewell is usually calculated from the depth you need to drill through. 

Even if you already have a borewell, still you should know how much is it extracting from the ground. Then you will need to compare the same (the output) with your desired production capacity. If it is less than what you propose to produce; then you might need to fill in the gap between the demand-supply by procuring water from outside or may be a second borewell. This additional cost also needs to be taken into account.This cost can be had from the Borewell Suppliers. There can be local persons or you can refer the suggested directories.

(2) Cost of Water Treatment Plant

This is actually a set of Equipment, through which the raw water is passed to get the desired resultant water. The deciding cost factors for this is the Raw Water Quality. Usually, if you present this to any NABL Lab, they will offer you a Test Report. On the basis of this, you can get a Quote from any Water Treatment Plant Supplier or Mineral Water Plant Supplier. 

#Tip :- If you have yet not decided for a Mineral Water Plant; or you just need a proper quote for evaluation purpose at this stage; YOU NEED NOT GO TO A LABORATORY at all.

Alternate Way :-

(1) Attend our Mineral Water Plant Training, in which we share you a no cost method by which you would be able to design the exact specification for the Water Treatment Plant for your Mineral Water Plant. Once you are ready with your exact Water Treatment Plant Capacity, it is very easy to get the Water Treatment Plant Cost for your Mineral Water Plant.

# It is mandatory to get water tested from an FssaI Approved laboratory, when you are submitting samples from your plant. It is a later stage, NOT NOW. At this stage you can skip this.  

(3) Cost of Bottling Machinery

Bottling Section is divided into 3 sections :-

1. Bottle Making Section (Blowing Machine)- 
2. Bottle Filling Machine
3. Packaging & Boxing Machines

Usually, the cost of Blowing Machine & Filling Machine varies with production capacity; but the secondary packaging machines remain constant. Hence, you should define the exact production you for getting the Bottling Machinery  Cost. 

During our Mineral Water Plant Training, we take a dummy case study with sample product mix & train the participants on how to calculate the mineral water plant capacity, so that they can specify the exact specifications for the machines they require.

(4) Cost of the Lab as per ISI

The Laboratory Equipments have been specified by the B.I.S. and the cost can be had from suppliers of the same. 

( This is optional as FssaI hasn’t yet come out with any mandatory declaration )

# Mineral Water Plant Construction, Utilities, MEP etc.

Mineral Water Plant Construction can be divided into The Shed Construction Cost, The Cost of the Interiors & Cost towards outer beautification etc. For all of this, you can contact local suppliers. Once you know how much is the exact land,plot needed etc, you can specify that to get exact quotes. 

Once you define your machinery properly with their exact capacity, you can get the exact quotes and the dimensions for each machine. Once this is had; you can draw your Plant Layout properly. Once the layout is clear, the Covered Shed area and area needed for the utilities and other sections such as the MEP.

Similarly, the Internal Electrification & Piping Cost can be exactly laid down once the total connected load and distance between the machines is clear from the layout.

#In the Mineral Water Plant Training, we train the participants to prepare their own layout themselves so that, once the Shed Area and outside area is defined, the construction cost can be calculated.

# It is advisable to consider the Cost of the Total Plot into your project costing.

For all of this, you can hire local contractors, but with expert guidance who know the requirements for a Mineral Water Plant or Packaged Drinking Water Plant. We offer this service as “Mineral Water Plant Technical Consultancy”, in which our technical team guides you on every aspect, at every step of the Mineral Water Plant you wish to execute. The advantage : You will do minimum mistakes.Kindly contact us for the same.

#Office Furniture & Softwares

While the actual machinery involved in the production process are the important considerations, the Office furniture & other cost components are equally important. Moresoever, they will be very necessary to see that you incur minimum wastage & process losses. We strongly recommend good ERP system, Vehicle tracking devices installed on vehicles of the dispatch personnel is a wise investment. Such considerations should be welcomed. 

This whole thing can be summed up as the starting capital you require to initiate and setup your project. 

Other Operational or Running Cost

This is the running money you require to make your investment work and generate you profits out of that. This includes mainly the following things :-

a. The Purchase & Consumables cost which includes the packaging materials used for bottling the water, plus the cost for material used indirectly such as filters, which is not the part of the final product showcased, but indirectly responsible for the produce of that. These are all tangible items.

b. The Overheads cost which includes human resource, electricity, capital cost, marketing cost, licenses & renewals cost.

How to Calculate this Cost ?

It is the running cost, and not just a 1-time investment calculation as mentioned in the other article on Mineral Water Plant Cost. For this you need to know, as an entrepreneur, as to what are the cost components in detail. And the prices of them. We have already covered this aspect in the previous paragraph.

The prices of the respective components also may change from time to time, hence these price considerations should also be kept in mind & the market trend too. To calculate the cost, use the following method :-

Make 5 separate tables for :-

• Purchase & Consumables
• Manpower Cost
• Electricity & Other Overheads Cost
• Bank Cost
• Licenses & Renewal Cost 

List Down their Monthly & Annual Consumption

From the Market survey, you might arrive at your approximate figures which you intend to produce. You can thus calculate how much would be your outlay for each of the cost component. 

Arrive at the Fix Operational Cost monthly Cost

Total each one from the mineral water plant cost components and you will get the monthly figure. This is your monthly operational cost.

We request participants in our training to present their received quotes & discuss, compare various suppliers’ quotes received during training.

Mineral Water Project Information Reviews

We suggest you to listen to the following review from Mr Anilkumar of Bangalore, who explains the importance of understanding the Mineral Water Plant Cost Components in details :-

Besides Anilkumar, there are a plenty of participants who have reviewed our trainings from time to time.

Note :-

It is observed that maximum entrepreneurs fail as they don’t pay any attention to this section & plan their dreams badly. Entrepreneurship is not blind thinking. 

Why listen to us ?

We are professionals in this field, water business and also offer Consultancy to setup your Mineral Water Plant. Please check the About Us section to know who is behind this.

---

Mineral Water Plant Cost & Setup FAQs (2026 Updated)