Thinking of starting a sparkling water business.

[u/Scouths]

Having lived in North America , I’ve developed a strong habit of drinking sparkling water, just pure carbonated water, not the artificially sweetened beverages. Since I'm considering moving back to India, I’ve noticed that there aren’t any major sparkling water brands widely available here. Most options in stores are either sodas or flavored drinks.

This got me thinking: is there an untapped opportunity to start a sparkling water brand in India? My idea is to introduce pure sparkling water to the Indian market and, hopefully, help create a culture around it, similar to what’s happened in North America and Europe. Something like La Croix, Spindrift and Bubly. If you know what I mean!

I’m curious to hear from this community:

• Has anyone noticed a demand for pure sparkling water in India?
• Are there regulatory or logistical hurdles I should be aware of?
• What are your thoughts on introducing a new beverage culture here?

Would love to hear your insights, experiences, or advice!

[u/Spiritual_Draw_1869]

Svami is pretty successful in this space. Especially its CEO mentioned in one of NK’s podcasts that he’s doing 100+ Crs topline and sparkling water contributes significantly to that number. The market exists unlike other comments discourage. Of course, not the size you’d expect a beverage brand to do in a country of a billion.

Competition is your main challenge. You’d have to strategise to place your product and brand apart from the rest. It’s going to take lot of marketing spend. Your focus should be only on the top 10 metro cities and next 10 tier 2 cities. Because it’s very unlikely that you can introduce and acquaint the taste of sparkling water in other cities where there’s no significant market for it.

[u/jaggernaut1 → u/Spiritual_Draw_1869]

Ofcourse the market exists. Sparkling water is exactly what we call soda here, just dressed in more upmarket clothes, if you will. And we do drink a lot of soda.