Himalaya battle climbs new peak  ( July '23,2008, Business Standard)

Kingfisher, Bisleri seek to steal the thunder from Tatas.

Indian bottlers are waking up to the magic of Himalaya, with at least half a dozen companies, including Ramesh Chauhan's Bisleri, the UB Group and others scrambling to use the name in their bottled water.

Though the premium market segment is merely two per cent of the packaged water market, around 35 beverages companies use ‘Himalayan' or ‘Himalayas' as a description or trademark to sell their products. And the reason is not hard to find: bottlers are able to enjoy a much higher margin than the mass-market bottled water.

"There are certain places in India which have a touch of divinity and are inaccessible by human beings. The Himalayas is one such symbol. Who wouldn't want to own a piece of divinity?'' asks Anand Halve, co-founder, Chlorophyl, a brand communications company.

The premium segment is dominated by the Himalaya brand of Tata's Mount Everest Mineral Water (MEMW), which enjoys about 85 per cent share of the market.

The country's packaged water market is estimated at Rs 1,500 crore and is growing at the rate of 25 per cent annually.

Tatas are facing fierce competition from players such as Ramesh Chauhan's Bisleri, which entered the market in December 2007 in the same price bracket of Rs 25 to Rs 30 a litre.

Chauhan has sought the cancellation of Tatas' Himalaya brand through a rectification application filed with the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) in Chennai, based on the Geographical Indications Act which forbids the registration of a geographical name by a private company.

Bisleri sold its premium brand of bottled water with the slogan "from the Himalayas'' helping it to nibble into the premium water market segment. The use of the Himalaya name landed Chauhan into a legal spat with the Tata Group. Bisleri has already formed tie-ups with JW Mariott and Hyatt Regency to sell its mountain water brand.

Billionaire Vijay Mallya-owned UB group is also planning to introduce an extension of the Kingfisher Himalayan water brand. Other local players that use Himalaya to indicate the source of the water are Catch, Paras, Natural, Qua and Hello.

It may not be easy for players to make a big dent in MEWM's dominance as MEMW gives discounts in the ratio of 2:1 and 1:1 to its partners, say industry experts. Such trade offers would be difficult for other players such as Bisleri to match, according to the company, due to 12.5 per cent value-added-tax and excise on packaged drinking water.