Ramesh J. Chauhan, Chairman of Bisleri International, is planning to divest its stakes in the company. He is in talks with Tata Consumer Products (TCPL) to sell a majority stake in Bisleri International for Rs 6,000 – 7,000 crore. For TCPL, which is looking for growth and expansion opportunities in the sector, this would be a golden opportunity.
If the deal goes through, it would strengthen Tata’s foothold in the beverage segment. Tata would be able to use the brand value of Bisleri. TCPL also sells packaged mineral water under the brands Himalayan, Tata Copper Plus Water, and Tata Gluco+.
The brand Bisleri is incomplete without Ramesh Chauhan.
What was his role in popularising the concept of bottled water in India?
Originally, Bisleri was an Italian company created by Felice Bisleri. The brand entered the Indian market in 1965. However, Felice Bisleri wanted to exit the market as he could not sell bottled water in the market. In 1969, under Ramesh Chauhan’s leadership, Parle acquired Bisleri.
This was an opportunity for Ramesh Chauhan, an alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The fourth child of Jayantilal and Jaya Chauhan, Ramesh was born on June 17, 1940.
The veteran entrepreneur with more than 50 years of expertise introduced and managed brands like Bisleri, Vedica, Thums Up, Limca, and Gold Spot.
Initially, Bisleri was consumed by foreigners and NRIs only. To capture the bigger market, Ramesh introduced a cheaper and easy-to-carry version of the 500 ml bottle for just Rs 5 in 1995. This gave the company a 400 per cent growth. Chauhan entered the carbonated drinks market following the exit of the Coca-Cola company from the Indian market in 1977. He introduced the cola drink Thums Up, the lemon-flavoured drink Limca, and the orange-flavoured drink Gold Spot. Later, in 1991, when Coca-Cola returned to the Indian market, Parle sold its carbonated drinks segment to Coca-Cola for $60 million. Bisleri re-entered the carbonated drinks market in 2016 by launching four soft drinks – Bisleri Limonata, Bisleri Fonzo, Bisleri Pina Colada and Bisleri Spyci. But, it was unsuccessful. Now, Bisleri has over 130 operational plants and 4,500 distributors across India and neighbouring countries.
According to market research, the bottled water market in India was valued at more than $2.43 billion in FY2021. It would grow at a CAGR of 13.25 per cent due to increasing disposable income, rising health and hygiene awareness, and increasing product innovation.
