Iran crisis lifts India bottled water prices, erasing Modi tax cut gains

Clean water is a privilege in the country of 1.4 billion people. Read more at straitstimes.com.

NEW DELHI – The Iran war has made bottled water in India 11 per cent more expensive after prices of plastic bottles and caps surged, a change that has also erased the benefit of a lower water tax rate Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a few months ago.

Clean water is a privilege in the country of 1.4 billion people where researchers say 70 per cent of the ‌groundwater ⁠is contaminated.

Bisleri, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance and Tata all compete for a share of the US$5 billion (S$6.4 billion) market, which is being squeezed as rising oil prices increase the cost of polymer, a key material for the industry’s plastic bottles.

India’s biggest player, Bisleri, which commands a third of the bottled water market, has increased prices by 11 per cent. A box of 12 bottles of 1-litre each will now cost 240 rupees (S$3.30), compared with 216 rupees earlier.

“The price of packaged drinking water has risen to 20 rupees per litre, due to a significant increase in packaging material costs, which have surged by over 70 per cent in the last fortnight,” Mr Angelo George, chief executive of Bisleri, told Reuters in a text message.

“What is happening is beyond anyone’s control,” he added.