Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
rail neer

Indian Railways is considering a sizeable investment in Rail Neer to increase production and to target more annual sales in the coming years. Rail Neer is a brand owned by IRCTC, the catering & reservation arm of Indian Railways.

Currently, Rail Neer is produced at 6 plans within the country and it is generating an annual revenue of ₹150 crores. IRCTC is planning to grow the revenue four-times to ₹600 crores in the next 3 years. The plan is to make Rail Neer as one of the biggest brand of packaged drinking water.

Rail Neer is currently sold inside the railway stations as well as in the trains. Currently, with the present production capacity, Railways is able to meet only 20% of the total demand. With the increased production, Railways is trying to address a larger demand and it is also considering to make Rail Neer available outside the stations.

In the coming years, Indian Railways is considering to open 6 more plants with an investment of around ₹100 crores. These plants will be established through public-private partnerships. The terms of which, have not been disclosed yet. Currently, IRCTC operates Rail Neer plants at 6 locations, including Amethi (UP), Palur (Tamil Nadu), AmberNath (Maharashtra), Parassala (Kerala), Danapur (Bihar) and Nangloi (Delhi).

IRCTC makes ₹1.5 on the sale of every bottle of Rail Neer. Currently, it is selling one-litre bottle for ₹15 and half-litre bottle for ₹10. The packaged water segment of IRCTC accounts for 10% of its total revenue and it is available across all 7000 railway stations and 1000 passenger trains across the country.

By Prithviraj Singh Chauhan

Part time journalist, full-time observer. Editor-in-Chief at The Indian Wire. I cover updates related to business and startups.