From milk to butter, to shakes, and now water… evidently, the pressure of rising input costs in its dairy products business has compelled Amul to enter the bottled water segment.
The proposal has been put up by the Baroda District Cooperative Milk Producers Union (BDCMPU), one of the 13 district unions of the cooperative giant.
Board Amul will meet on October 1 and is expected to approve the proposal, besides inviting expression of interest and issuing tender for the packaging of bottled water.
Amul, with an extensive retail network of close to five lakh outlets across the country, is planning to bring in the Narmada Neer brand of water in 200 ml pouches as well as one litre, five litre and 20 litre pet bottles.
According to estimates, the total size of packaged bottled drinking water business in the country is about Rs 1,800 crore and is poised to grow at 40 per cent every year, to Rs 2,200 crore by 2010.
