Salt-to-software maker, the Tata Group, today said it intends to sell 1 million units of its new compact water purifier within the next 12 months, production of which has commenced at its West Bengal plant.
Tata Chemicals Ltd, a part of the Tata group, today launched "Swachh", a 19-litre filter to provide clean water to millions of Indians who are affected by water-borne diseases each year.
"We want to sell in the first year (of launch) a million pieces. The lead time for setting up another unit is three months – if we are hard-pressed for time – and if we take it easy, we can set it up in six months," Tata Chemicals Ltd managing director, R Mukundan, told reporters here.
He said the company has set up a production facility in Haldia, West Bengal, which has an initial manufacturing capacity of 1 million units annually.
Tata Chemicals said it plans to have an additional production capacity of up to three-million tonnes at different sites across the country, including at Haldia.
"This is opening up a completely new market. The investment of Rs100 crore is our plan for the next five years. We have probably invested about one-fifth of that amount (so far)," Mukundan said.
"Swachh", which means 'clean' in Hindi complies with US Environmental Protection Agency standards and does not require running water, power or boiling.
Tata Sons executive director, R Gopalakrishnan said the product is priced so as to make it affordable to rural Indian masses.
Tata Group chairman, Ratan Tata, will disclose the pricing in the next two days.
The company said it is looking to collaborate with the government to reach into India's hinterland.
Tata Chemicals may also export the product to African nations in the future, where other group companies already have operations.
"We would like to look beyond India, but our first plan is about the Indian market itself. We haven't really thought through our plans for the overseas market because we believe the problem (of clean water) is big enough in India," Mukundan said.
"Ideally, we want to reach out to Africa. We (already) have operations in Africa, South Africa, Kenya, and that is really going to be our market that we'd like to tap into next," he added.
The company carried out its research and development at the Tata Consultancy Services lab over the past decade, adding silver nanotechnology to the purifier.
Tata Chemicals has had test runs of the product in 600 households in Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
It plans to distribute the product, which will hit the market this month-end, through networks of its agrochemical arm, Rallis India, and the farm services business, Tata Kisan Sansar, which cumulatively reaches about 3 million farmers.
Swachh filters 99.99% of the bacteria and its cartridge—the machine's main component—has a purification life of 3,000 litres.
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