Bisleri thirsty for more, eyes Rs 1000cr revenue by 2015

Even as he completes 50 years at Parle, "water king" Ramesh Chauhan's thirst for more is intact. Infact CNBCTV18's Farah Bookwala reports that Chauhan now wants to grow his bottled water brand Bisleri nearly two-fold by 2015 and is also eyeing new categories within the beverages space.

Two decades ago, forced to sell out his iconic brands, Thumsup and Limca, to Coca-Cola, Ramesh Chauhan decided to focus his energies on Bisleri. Today, Bisleri commands 60 percent market of the Rs 1,000 crore retail packaged water segment. But the business of water is a tricky one. For one: margins are razor thin and competition from local brands is intense. So the only way to build topline, is through phenomenal volumes. This is what Chauhan wants to do. To grow the Bisleri brand from the current Rs 500 crore to Rs 1000 crore in revenues by 2015, Chauhan will open one plant every month. Also Read: Brewing recipe for success: Starbucks eyes long-term growth “Every month we must start a new plant which we are doing. apart from new plants, the old plants will also be expanded,” says Ramesh Chauhan Chairman, Bisleri International. The company is also focusing on building its basket of premium products. Apart from its Himalayan water brand Vedica, Bisleri will roll out flavored drinking water by January even as a carbonated energy drink is in the pipeline, but ask him if he will get back to carbonated soft drinks, and the answer is an emphatic 'no'. “That is a dying business and particularly cola. So to go into that business we have no advantage. For us, advantage is to go into some unique product where we can get a premium and hopefully there is no other guy in that category,” he added. Chauhan is also decidedly uninterested in taking the Bisleri brand overseas. The fiery entrepreneur says it is better to be number 1 in India, than a laggard in overseas market.