‘Kinnera’ water all set to flow across Telangana
State-run Oilfed diversifies into bottled water business
Hyderabad: In a unique business diversification, the Telangana State Cooperative Oil Seeds Growers Federation Limited (TS- Oilfed) will hit the market with its own packaged drinking water bottles under the brand name ‘Kinnera’ in a couple of days.
This will be the second State-run packaged drinking water bottle supply after Mission Bhagiratha which came up with its own pure drinking water bottles, particularly for government offices.
Initially, TS Oilfed intends to launch one litre and half litre bottles, followed by 250 ml bottles. Based on the response, there are plans to launch 20 litre bottles as well. Though, the prices are yet to be fixed, a one litre water bottle is expected to cost Rs 20 and a half litre bottle much lower.
The idea to launch purified and packaged drinking water bottles was borne out of the fact that there was plenty of water available in the borewells at Apparaopeta palm oil factory in Kothagudem district, TS Oilfed Chairman K Ramakrishna Reddy told Telangana Today.
“The groundwater table here is very good and a couple of more borewells can be dug on the factory premises. After meeting the factory requirements, plenty of water is still available and hence, the idea of setting up a packaged drinking water plant was mooted,” he said, and pointed out that there was a lot of demand for packaged drinking water in the market.
“We have not compromised on quality and it is a Grade I variant. We have also obtained all certifications, including BIS, ISI and even registered the brand Kinnera,” he said.
He said the Rs 3 crore imported plant was already operational and trials were conducted successfully last fortnight. Many bottles were supplied to hotels, commercial establishments as samples and their feedback was also encouraging, Ramakrishna Reddy said, adding that Kinnera packaged drinking water bottles would be launched in a couple of days.
TS Oilfed has good dealership and distribution network of about 250 and is presently marketing Vijaya edible oil across the State. The federation will now be adding another product to its portfolio in the form of Kinnera packaged drinking water. In addition to the existing dealership network, it is also looking at marketing Kinnera drinking water in Krishna, Guntur, East and West Godavari districts in Andhra Pradesh.
“The idea is to make optimum utilisation of the existing dealership network. Once the supplies are stabilised, we will approach government departments and other bulk packaged drinking water consumers,” said Ramakrishna Reddy.
Though the plant has a production capacity of 4,000 litres per hour, currently TS Oilfed is generating 3,600 litres per hour. Initially, the plan was to launch Kinnera bottled water last year and accordingly, orders were placed for the plant machinery. However, due to the lockdown, the shipment was delayed and eventually the launch also got delayed by six months, he added.
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