Production volume of bottled water in India FY 2015-2018
Rail Neer - packaged drinking water
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), a subsidiary of the Indian Railways handles the catering, tourism, and online ticketing operations. Rail Neer, a branded packaged drinking water, launched by IRCTC in 2003 exclusively caters to the rail commuters. The completely automated Rail Neer plants across the country together produced over 200 million packaged water bottles in the financial year 2018.
Environmental concerns
In a developing country like India, bottled water is a luxurious commodity that only certain sections of the community enjoy. Compared to other types of safe drinking water, such as boiled water or RO water, bottled water is of the utmost concern to the environment. Apart from the production stage, the plastic packaging of water also adds on to the plastic pollution woes. Moreover, the microplastics found in leading packaged water bottles are of a major health concern.