Another wonder from the desk of an audacious visionary, the current chairman of India's lagrest conglomerate Tata Group - Ratan Naval Tata. The man who earned the humongous task of filling
the Big shoes of JRD Tata and swore to live up to it and make it better than ever, has done it again.
Tata group has launched, what could be the worlds cheapest water purifier at price points of Rs749 and Rs999. "Tata Swach"
The Genesis of "Swach" - "Clean" in hindi, began nearly a decade ago as a CSR initiative of TCS, India's largest IT major.
2000-2003 saw the launch of a water filter called Sujal which was distributed among NGOs.
When tsunami ravaged parts of costal south India in 2004, these water filters were distributed to the affected regions.
Soon thereafter, Tata Chemicals, Tata Consultancy Services and Titan Industries got together to take things to the next level.
The result is Swach. The filters were made by tcs, Tata chemicals did the silver nano technology and titan created the precision machine tools.
Nice-husk ash and silver nano particles seem to have done the job for the scientists how were cracking an effective and efficient way to filter out bacteria and other germs.
As a result the purifier does not require electricity; instead it runs on a replaceable cartridge with a shelf life of 3000 liters. This would last a family for approximately 200 days.
"An opportunity to provide solutions to the have-nots. "
Numbers are the ones that have been doing the job for great people.
Well, everyone has got it. It's just that the successful ones have learned to use it effectively.
Steve Jobs would have had yet another head turner presentation to his successful list.
Tata by no means less had it simple yet very powerful.
At the launch, Chairman Ratan Tata said: "Safe drinking water is the most basic of human needs. The social cost of water contamination is already enormous and increasing every year."
Well, don't get it wrong. Swach is not being sold at a loss. In other words, it is more than just charity.
No wonder Tata's panache for remarkable product launches within India-earned him a reputation of a price-sensitive and quality-conscious business strategist.
At present the total purifier market is about Rs 1500 crore. Water purifiers can be found in 10% of the urban homes and 1% of rural homes. This clearly shows the lack of adequate penetration posed by the existing players.
Moreover, the refill concept also assures a continuous flow of income from the sale of cartridges, and also manages to eliminate the need for after-sales services to a significant extent.
From the pricing front Swach costs far less than its rivals Hindustan Unilever's Pureit (Rs 2000) and Eureka Forbes' Aquasure(Rs 1950).
Interestingly Swach's replaceable cartridge lasts longer and costs lesser than the replaceable battery kits of the other two majors.
On the other hand, Tata's water purifier seems to be geography-specific. The first two variants are targeted at regions where arsenic and fluoride are high in content. In due course, it is expected to roll out variants that will fight other impurities as well.
It wouldn't be a cake walk for the Tata's for the challenges that lie ahead are many.
Brand Building, Educating the masses, Facilitating the necessity and finally market capitalization. Would this turn out to be another success story of a bright initiative from the Tata's brand wagon? It is for time to unwind.
For now, it seems to be a good start...
