Though a pioneer in the field Mr. Ramesh Chauhan, chairman Parle Bisleri, which reportedly enjoys a 60-65 per cent market share of the Indian bottled water market, has had to contend with several new entrants in the bottled drinking water arena.

For starters, his own brother, Mr. Prakash Chauhan through brand Bailley, has been trying to emulate the Bisleri success through the franchisee route. And is catching up pretty fast!

Then there is Pepsi with its Aquafina brand and backing of a good distribution channel of 60,000 outlets. Pepsi banks on its refrigerators at retail outlets, which stock its cold drinks, for Aquafina as well. Another soft-drink major, Coca Cola, with an equally pedigreed distribution network, is using the same for its brand of water, Kinley.

A player with technical expertise is Thermax, through a joint venture with US-based Culligan Water Technologies. Largely into industrial water purification, Thermax Culligan recently announced its entry into the household segment with the launch of 20-litre packs of drinking water, branded Good Water, at Rs 60 a pack. The company has set up a plant at Taloja, Maharashtra, and is in the process of expanding its business into markets within a radius of 180 kms of this plant. Through this expansion, the company plans to enter the markets of Nashik, Ahmednagar, Lonavala and Mahabaleshwar. The company is planning to set up more plants at New Delhi and Gujarat. With a customer base of 2,400 in Pune and Mumbai, amounting to 32,000 bottles of 20 litres a month, Thermax Culligan is planning to set up access points for drinking water at various outlets in Maharashtra. The company has no immediate plans to introduce smaller packages for its product.

Then there are a number of FMCG giants waiting in the wings and firming up plans. Multinational Nestle is also said to be keen on entering this market. Nestle is a big player in the mineral water market internationally, with brands like Perrier and San Pellegrino in its stable. It sells water drawn from local springs in Europe and its brands are named after the springs. Sources in the company say that Nestle is in the process of setting up two bottling plants for the venture, one at Taloja, near Mumbai, and the other in New Delhi, to service the markets in those regions. Plans are initially to tap only the huge market for bottled water in large cities and towns, the sources said. The product would be launched simultaneously in the Mumbai and Delhi markets.

For Nestle, India will be the next major stop after Pakistan, where it launched the Pure Life brand first. The company plans to ride piggyback on its distribution network for chocolates, which are hawked through a large chain of retail outlets.

Then there is Godrej with Aquapure. Britannia at presents distributes Evian and will launch its own branded water very soon. The National Dairy Development Board also plans to launch Dhara through its distribution chain, new entrant Atco with Brilliant water and DS Foods with Catch spring water positioned on the mineral water plank. Even Hindustan Lever is said to be firming up plans to enter the market.

Apart from these are the small players, which, according to some estimates, cater to nearly as big a market as the big players. Among these the important ones are: Godrej's Golden Valley in the south, Amrit Agro's Amrit Aqua, Kothari Foods' Yes and T-Series' Ganga in the north and SM Dyechem's Peppy in the west.

According to unconfirmed reports, multinational firms such as Nestle, Coca-Cola and even Hindustan Lever have approached Chauhan to acquire his brand. But talks have not fructified.Parle is bracing itself up to face the competition.

After the cola wars, it may well be the water wars!