Israel-based Watergen, that makes water from air, on Wednesday said it is shifting its four manufacturing facilities in the US and China (two each), to start a plant in India, Trend reports citing The Hindu Business Line.
Through this 50:50 JV, Watergen and SMV Jaipuria will introduceAtomospheric Water Generators (AWG) product categories in India that creates high quality, mineralised, safe-drinking water out of ambient air, everywhere, the companies said.
The JV company will be called Watergen India Pvt Ltd, and both the entities will be making an initial investment upwards of $50 million over the next few years.
Speaking on the sidelines of its JV with SMV Jaipuria, Maayan
Mulla, Chief Executive Officer, Watergen India, told BusinessLine
that India is a more favoured destination in terms of making
affordable products and more than 90 per cent of the products will
be made locally, and exported to more than 90 countries from
here.
Pricing and capacity
“In terms of price, we can come with a better price to the market, in India and globally, to make it affordable for more people...it’s not about price of labour or components, it’s about the right partner that you have and the right place,” Mulla said.
He said 1,000 of units of the Watergen products were being exported to multiple countries from these four plants, which now will be done from India, once the company starts its manufacturing from here. Other than the US and China, the company has its main facility in Israel along with the research and development labs.
Asked where the company plans to set up its plant, Chaitanya Jaipuria, Director, SMV Jaipuria Group, said, “We are in discussion about a few places, but nothing has been finalised yet. We will do wherever is best suited for setting up the facility...we are in talks with more than 10 States.”
With their capacities ranging from 30-6,000 litres per day, the pricing of these products is estimated to start from ₹2.50 lakh, which may even go up to crores, depending on the requirement (commercial buildings, hospitals, villages, factories), he said.
“We are confident that with Watergen, we will be able to make safe and highest quality drinking water accessible to people from the most remote rural village communities to commercial office buildings to private homes,” Jaipuria added.
The SMV Jaipuria Group has diverse interests in Food and Beverages, Real Estate, Textiles and Speciality Chemical products. It is associated with PepsiCo and Raymond as their master franchise/franchisee.