Association president Vijaysinh Dubbal said the decision was taken after a sharp rise in input costs, particularly plastic raw material used for manufacturing bottles. “Raw material prices have increased suddenly and there is also shortage of plastic granules used to make bottles, leading to rise in production cost. We have decided to increase the rate by Rs10 per box and informed all manufacturers to implement it with immediate effect,” he said. He clarified that the increase applies only at the wholesale level and is not expected to immediately affect retail prices for consumers. “The increase is per box, not per bottle. A box usually has 12 one-litre bottles or 24 half-litre bottles. The distributor will get the box at a higher rate and the retailer will also get it Rs10 costlier, but the MRP for customers will remain the same,” Dubbal said. According to the association, retailers currently have enough margin to absorb the increase without revising selling prices. “A retailer usually gets a bottle at a lower rate and sells it at Rs18 or Rs20, so there is margin available. The change is mainly at the distributor and retailer levels,” he said. The Federation of All India Packaged Drinking Water Manufacturers’ Associations has issued a similar advisory to state units, stating that it will continue to monitor market movements and fluctuations in raw material prices and may recommend further revisions in the maximum retail price, if necessary. The revision comes at a time when demand for bottled water is expected to rise with temperatures increasing across Maharashtra, though industry representatives said the current change is unlikely to immediately impact consumers.
