Thermax Culligan Lines Up Rs 14 Cr For Bottling Units

Thermax Culligan Water Technologies, a 50:50 equity joint venture between the city-based Thermax and the US firm Culligan, is planning to invest over Rs 14 crore to set up water bottling plants at Delhi,

Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

"The move to expand into India, west Asia and other Asian countries is part of our strategy to move out of the United States and do business in other countries," said Scott Sibley, director, international bottled water, Culligan.

The expansion programme will be financed through the debt route.

Thermax Culligan is a zero debt company and all existing operations have been fully financed through the equity route.

 

The paid-up capital of the company is Rs 14 crore. "We plan to set up new bottling plants in major metros within the next three years. Each unit will cost us in the range of Rs 3 crore to Rs 7 crore depending on the location and capacity," R A Venkitachalam, chief executive officer, Thermax Culligan, said.

Thermax Culligan Water Technologies had in April launched its 20-litre water bottles under the brand name Good Water Everflo.

The 20-litre bottles are produced at its fully automated plant at Taloja, near Mumbai, which has a production capacity of 450 bottles per hour.

The company is also into water softeners, ultra violet systems, reverse osmosis systems and ozone-based domestic purifiers.

"From the third year of operations, 35 per cent of our income will come from industrial products, 25 per cent from bottled water and the balance from the household and commercial sector including the food and beverage market," said

Kumar Srinivasan, divisional manager.

The marketing of Good Water Everflo was till now restricted to Pune, Mumbai and Surat. However, with the setting up of new plants, the company is hopeful of capturing new markets.

Good Water Everflo conforms to the standards laid down by Indian Standard, World Health Organisation and the International Bottled Water Association.

Thermax Culligan Water Technologies has targeted a turnover of Rs 35 crore, which is expected to grow to Rs 100 crore in the next three years.

The joint venture will break-even in the third year of

operations when the entire expansion and country-wide production and marketing network is in place.