Who was Felice Bisleri, the man whose name is synonymous with mineral water in India

India’s most popular mineral water brand Bisleri was recently in the news due to an unusual reason. Its 82-year-old chairperson Ramesh Chauhan is looking for a new owner to take the brand forward as his daughter Jayanti Chauhan is not interested in running the multi-billion dollar company.

Bisleri is a household name in India, one which is commonly used across languages and regions. For decades, it was the sole standard of quality in mineral drinking water across the country. However, not many know that the brand got its name from an Italian inventor called Felice Bisleri. 

Who was Felice Bisleri?

While Bisleri is today an Indian company, its origins can be traced back to the 1800s in the Italian city of Milan. Born in 1851, Felice Bisleri went on to become a successful inventor, chemist and businessman. One whose name outlived the sands of time in a far away country more than his own. 

Born in a town called Verolanuova near the city of Brescia in Italy, Felice went on to create a chemical lab in Milan called Felice Bisleri & Co. His notable inventions included a mineral water called "Nocera Umbra", a herbal drink called “Ferro-China Bisleri” made as an alcohol infusion, and an anti-malaria chemical called "Esanofele". Felice Bisleri died in 1921 but his name lived on.

The brand was first brought to India in 1965 by an Italian doctor called Cesari Rossi in partnership with an Indian businessman Khushroo Suntook in 1965. At the time it solely produced mineral water for luxury hotels in glass bottles at a bottling plant in Thane. 

The brand struggled for some years before it was bought in 1969 by Parle Group’s Jayantilal Chauhan, the father of current Bisleri owner Ramesh Chauhan for Rs 4 lakh. In the decades that followed, it became synonymous with bottled mineral water in India.

READ | Meet Jayanti Chauhan, billionaire's daughter who refused to take over Rs 7,000-crore Bisleri