Water technology is in great need for the country. Evolution of water technologies in different industries for proper optimization of limited source of water.

• Definition / Scope
• Market Overview
• Market Risks
• Top Market Opportunities
• Market Drivers
• Market Restraints
• Industry Challenges
• Technology Trends
• Pricing Trends
• Regulatory Trends
• Market Size and Forecast
• Market Outlook
• Competitive Landscape
• Competitive Factors
• Key Market Players
• Strategic Conclusion
• References

Definition / Scope

India is a booming economy, but the water insecurity is present all across the country leading to unhygienic conditions of the people and high mortality rate of the children. India loses millions of children due to poor quality of water related to diseases like diarrhoea and pneumonia.

India water technology market is going to be one of the significant industry in the coming decade because of limited source of water and high demand of consumability for different stakeholders in the society. By 2020, the global water technology market is going to be over $6 billion industry and India will be one of the important part of the industry.

Market Overview

With only 4% of the global water resource available in India for 16% of the population, water is going to be one of important challenge for meeting the demand of the population.

Thermal industry is the industry which uses maximum water for generating power followed by agriculture and livestock and construction. Water technology has been used in different industry for desalination, waste-water reuse, zero liquid discharge and water purification.

Companies are providing complete water life cycle management for the industries for proper optimization of water usage for the industries. Petrochemical, Mining, Power Generation, Oil and Gas and Infrastructure are the major industry producing hazardous water so water treatment is in great demand servicing this industries in India.

Market Risks

• Importation of cheap water technologies are available in the market which gives touch competition to the local players.
• Innovation is quite limited in the water technologies by the Indian companies.
• Outreach is limited to the geographical area. Indian companies target limited market which includes region of a state.
• Indian companies have failed to position themselves as a reliable technology in the mind of Indian consumers.
• Government investment is very less in the water technology industry due to which the private players are responsible for the price movement of the technology.
• B2B marketing is quite limited, due to which reaching corporate is limited.

Top Market Opportunities

• Treatment of the waste water- Waste water coming out from the factories and usage of fertilizers can be converted into bio-fuel or renewable source of energy for different applications.
• Agriculture- Companies are innovating new agricultural techniques to reduce the water consumption and give better yields from the technology.
• Water efficient homes- Saving water technology for the residential is a niche market for this technology.
• Desalination- A huge opportunity for converting salt water to usable water is gaining momentum as there is a huge scope for application in the manufacturing sector.
• Purified water for drinking- New technologies are being coming to the market with features of removing different types of impurities without the use of chemicals.

Market Drivers

• Unorganised Market- India water technology is an unorganised market in India. There is a huge difference in the business model for the Northern and Southern region of India. So there is a huge opportunity to capture the market.
• Low entry barrier- Entry in the water technology is easy for the domestic as well as international players in India.
• Scope of innovation- There is a huge scope of innovation catering to the residential and commercial use of water technology for optimizing the usage of water.
• Water entrepreneurs- Government has started “Start-Up India” project for investment in different industries of India.
• FDI – India has become one of the top destination for foreign investment in the economy.

Market Restraints

• Cost- The cost of implementation of water saving technology is quite high, sue to which there is resistance from the consumers.
• Maintenance- Water technologies requires periodic replacement of water filtering materials attached in the machine which adds up cost of the technology.
• Client Education- The limitation which is binding the industry is lack of knowledge about the application of water technology for future sustainability.
• Consumer Bias- Customers are having negative mind-set of inferior quality of Indian products of water technology.
• Rate of innovation in the developed countries is much higher than the domestic market, due to which the Indian companies are facing more challenge.

Industry Challenges

• Competition from the foreign players is high because of new range of products leading to the competitive advantage over the domestic companies.
• Regional competence- Companies in India have captured the limited region and entry in the region is the biggest challenge for the new players.
• Government Participation- There has been less investment from the government for the water technology. There is no additional tax benefit from the central government.
• Scope of export- Technology produced in the country is not in pace with the global industry, due to which the scope of exporting water technology is distant in the coming years.

Technology Trends

Low Pressure Membrane, High Pressure Membrane, Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation technology, Oxidation Technology and nanotechnology has been used by the industry for the water treatment. Osmosis technology, desalination are the major need of the industry.

There are number of technologies in the market, but the application of water treatment technology would depend on the level of pollution in the water and the reusability. Natural Filtration process are used in the pilgrimage for the treatment of river water.

Pricing Trends

Pricing of the water technology is the major challenge for the industries. The pricing of the technology is high over the years and it is going in the positive direction. The cost of maintenance adds to the pricing.

High import duties for the imported goods adds more to the selling price. Loyalty and marketing from the international goods increases the price. The price is going to increase in the coming years until and unless there is major shift in innovation of low cost purification techniques.

However efforts are being made by the domestic companies in finding low cost purification process serving industries.

Regulatory Trends

• In order to give support to the water technology industry, the government is imposing strict rules on the use of water and contamination of water source.
• “Swatch Bharat” Abhiyan is the new initiative by the government to eradicate pollution from the society which is going to be the opportunity of growth for the industry.
• The government is looking after cleaning of the water bodies across the states of the country.
• Small Loans and schemes are provided to the farmers for the availability of irrigation facilities for the farm.
• Insurance is provided to the farmers who opt for different insurance schemes for the year.
• Zero Liquid Discharge has been made mandatory by textile and automobile industry.

Market Size and Forecast

The waste water treatment industry will infuse an investment of $2480 Billion in the Indian water technology industry by the government, private companies and international companies for India and the trend is going to increase at the rate of 5% years in the coming 3 years.

The industry I divided into desalination and waste water recycle. 20000 Crore has been allocated to the water supply projects by the government in the 11th Five Year Plan. Indian water and waste water treatment industry is estimated to be over Rs. 70 billion for the year 2016. Rs. 5000 Crore investment would be contributed by the private companies in the five years.

Market Outlook

India is an agricultural country so agriculture is the first industry which consumes more water. Demand of water is 688 Billion Cubic Meter and the need is going to increase to 910 Billion Cubic Meter in 2015 and 1072 Billion Cubic Meter.

Urban development is going to be the biggest challenge for water management. The government is providing schemes to the farmers for irrigation to optimize the usage of water. Municipal and Industrial sector will drive the growth of water treatment.

Bottled purified water industry is going to grow in the coming years. Public Private Partnership is going to be the primary force of water treatment.

Competitive Landscape

Competition in the water technology industry is going to increase in the coming years as the concern for the water treatment is increasing in different parts of India. The competition is between the domestic and the international players which are competent in the technology.

• India is a developing country.
• More number of small and medium sized companies.
• Increase in the domestic companies.
• Price competition.
• Technology awareness.
• Rural India is untouched.
• New Entrepreneurs entering the market.
• New technology substitutes available in the market.
• Servicing clients for sustainability.
• Low cost technology is at higher preference.
• The industry is in the initial phase of growth.

Key Market Players

• VA Tech Wabag GMBH
• Thermax India
• GE Water
• Siemens water
• Voltas limited
• Hindustan dorr-oliver limited
• Wog Technologies
• UEM India Pvt. Ltd
• SFC Environmental Technologies Private Limited
• ion exchange India ltd

Strategic Conclusion

Water is an essential need for the human existence and India is going to be one of the highest consumer of water. Water treatment technology is the trending industry in the coming decade

The industry needs more cost effective solution catering to the needs of the industries. India is going to be one of the important hub for water technology. Agriculture and petro-chemical industry will be the most beneficiary industry for the water treatment and government initiative of Swatch Bharat is going to be successful in the next 5 years.

The success of packaged drinking water will be the repeated in the other verticals of water treatment.

References

• http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/water-wastewater-treatment-equipment-market.asp 
• http://www.chemtech-online.com/WAT/frost_sullivan_April12.html 
• http://www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=540
• http://top10companiesinindia.co.in/2014/03/30/top-10-water-treatment-companies-in-india/
• http://www.inc.com/ss/best-industries-2012/issie-lapowsky/8-big-business-opportunities-in-water-conservation