Tata to pitch its own mineral water brands, post Bisleri deal fallout: Report

Tata Consumer Products is all set invest in its own mineral water brands chief executive officer and managing director Sunil D'Souza said in an interview with The Economic Times.

This move comes days after Tata called off plans to acquire leading bottled water brand Bisleri.

Also Read: Jayanti Chauhan to lead Bisleri after TCPL withdraws acquisition plan: Report

Talking about the impetus the Bisleri deal could have offered, the CEO said,
"Acquiring Bisleri would have fast-forwarded our plans by three years, but this plan was just a small puzzle in our big F&B (food and beverages) puzzle box".

D'Souza also spoke about Tata's plans for its brands, Tata Copper+, Tata Gluco+ and Himalyan.

"We will now back our own brands Tata Copper+, Tata Gluco+ and Himalayan mineral water with the strong resources we have at our disposal," D'Souza said.

Also Read: Tata Consumer stops Rs 7,000-crore Bisleri buyout talks

Last week on March 20, Tata Consumer Products Limited withdrew its bid to acquire Ramesh Chauhan's Bisleri International . The parties had been in discussion for almost two years and [deal] was expected to be closed soon according to a report by the Economic Times.

However, the Chauhan family did not sign on the dotted line during the last leg of talks, sources told the business daily.

Addressing the current plan Tata has for its RTD(ready to drink) business, D'Souza told ET that Tata aims to build on its pre-existing manufacturing and distribution footprint.

"We had put on hold some investment decisions in our RTD business. However, we have expanded our manufacturing and distribution footprint to 70 percent of the market and will now focus on expanding to the rest," D'souza said.

Talking about the potential Tata Copper+ has in the RTD space, the TCPL the CEO said, "There are no other similar brands in this space for which we would pay as much (as for Bisleri). Tata Copper+ is a ₹400-crore brand and we will accelerate its growth."

TCPL, which has been formed after merging the consumer products business of Tata Chemicals with Tata Global Beverages, aspires to be a formidable player in the FMCG category, by expanding its play into the existing category and venturing into new areas.

"We have significantly increased distribution to reach 3.6 million and raised spends on brands while parallelly ramping up innovation," D'Souza said.

D'Souza also spoke about TCPL's performance post-pandemic and said, "Our new product launches now are approximately 2.5 times compared to 2020, with dedicated R&D centres in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Sri City".

TCPL's beverage brands include Tata Tea, Tetley, Eight O'Clock Coffee, Tata Coffee Grand, Himalayan Natural Mineral Water, Tata Copper+, Tata Fruski, and Tata Gluco+.