ALMOST two years back it stirred the energy drink segment by launching Current. Now, the Gujarat-based Energy Beverages (EBPL) is set to add some fizz to the competitive bottled drinking water segment with the launch of sparkling water. Sparkling water with a little fizz is a milder form of soda. The company plans to position the product under the premium segment in water market.

It has already set up a plant in North India for the same. The plant capacity is around five lakh bottles a month. “Initially, we plan to utilise around 20% of the plant capacity. And later, as we reach out to wider markets, we will increase the capacity,” said director of Energy Beverages Pvt Ltd Nayan Shah.

The Rs 1,000-crore packaged water industry is growing at around 25% and several new players are entering the market. The top industry players in the segment include, Bisleri, Manikchand’s Oxyrich, Coca Cola’s Kinley, and Pepsi’s Aquafina. The existing players are already working on developing newer products. Most of the existing companies offer mineral and spring water. The difference between spring and mineral water is that mineral water has higher levels of mineral content.

Energy Beverages, which is to launch its product within the next two months, plans to test market it in Ahmedabad and later introduce it in Delhi and Mumbai. As the transportation cost forms a major part of cost in bottled water business, EBPL plans to use its existing network of energy drink to supply the product to different markets. According to the industry experts, transportation forms a major chunk of the total cost of bottled water. So, to save costs, most of the companies in the sector do not prefer to transport water beyond 300 km.

Apart from entering the new segment, EBPL will continue focus on energy drinks. It is already working on introducing newer products in health drink segment, like drink with laxatives. The company’s existing product Current is now already being sold in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kerala, Bangalore, Delhi and other parts of Northern India. At present, it manufactures around 2.5 lakh units a month and plans to take the production to 12 lakh units by 2006-07.