A few years ago, drinking water from a tetra pack in India would have been a ridiculed concept. Why would anyone pay more than a few rupees to purchase mineral sips, let alone invest in a throwaway box that masquerades as a portable billboard? Cut to 2025. The waterscape has evolved radically and a flurry of brands in tetra pack water are now busy jockeying for visibility as healthy, sustainability-ninja, thirst busters. Gear up to spend more - boring water just went boujie.
A drop of change
Earlier, government regulations required 70 per cent transparency in packaging water. The gamechanger moment arrived in 2024 when the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) issued a notification allowing Natural Mineral Water and Packaged Drinking Water to be sold in opaque packaging such as multilayer paper-based formats like Tetra Pak, Gable Top cartons, and aluminium cans. With tetra pack water de rigueur in the US, Europe, and Asia, across five-star spaces and supermarkets, the trend has now trickled into India.
Says Geetanjali Gupta, co-founder, Kevala Niru Water Packaging Private Limited and Gable Top Packaging Private Limited, “This regulatory change aligned with our ongoing R&D and allowed us to move forward with commercial plans. Since 2021 we have been exploring alternative packaging formats suitable for water. During our travels, we saw how innovatively water was being packaged across the world. When we came across gable top cartons, usually used for dairy, we instantly knew they were the perfect match for the kind of water experience we wanted to create.” Geetanjali joined forces with her sister-in-law Anupama Gupta to come up with Kevala Niru – that means 'Only Water' in Kannada. “The idea was to reflect the simplicity and purity of water, and appeal to a younger, design-conscious audience,” she says.
Going with the flow
From the environmentalists and planet-crusaders glugging Bisleri and easing their EVs through the forests to stage protests against deforestation to people buying water-in-a-carton, there has been a rapid change in the definition of sustainability moves. The premium and functional hydration segment in India is projected to grow at a CAGR of 13.2% through 2028, driven by rising interest in gut health, clean-label products, and eco-friendly solutions. With the planet-friendly anthem gaining momentum worldwide, the shift in consumption is clear.
Says Rhea Raheja, co-founder, Impact Water, “I feel there has been a decided cultural shift in how Indians perceive sustainability. Consumers, especially younger ones, are no longer just making purchases, they are making statements. With rising awareness about climate change and the impact of plastic pollution, people are actively looking for alternatives that are both convenient and planet-friendly. Paper cartons strike a sweet spot: they look premium, feel modern, and come with a much lower environmental footprint compared to plastic and glass. State-level initiatives like Kerala's plastic bottle ban have also played a role in nudging both consumers and businesses to rethink their choices. It’s no longer just about hydration; it’s about aligning consumption with conscience.”
While studying in the US, where single-use plastic bottles were banned on campus, Rhea was quick to tap into her business acumen on home turf with friend and co-founder, Impact Water, Ishaan Nangia. The duo came up with an alternative in Impact Water – a prudent option to cumbersome, breakable glass bottles, and harmful plastic. “Our cartons are made using FSC-certified paperboard from responsibly managed forests,” explains Ishaan. “We are also actively working on return and recovery programs to move toward a closed-loop system. For us, it’s not just about offering a better product, it's about reducing impact at every stage, from source to shelf to disposal.”
Creating ripples
With celebpreneurs boarding the business, the social media blitzkrieg has upped the ante. Last week actor Bhumi Pednekar, and her sister Samiksha, launched Backbay, their brand of carton water. With filmstars primarily farming funds into hospitality and beauty enterprises, the dynamic move stems from a different perspective for Bhumi. “When I looked at the bottled water space, it felt outdated and lacking in trust. Despite being the most essential beverage, water hasn’t seen meaningful innovation. That’s when the idea of Backbay took shape - rethinking how water should be sourced, packaged, and experienced,” she says.
The name Backbay felt right to the siblings as it is “rooted in the idea of a place where nature and modern life meet a nod to freshness, fluidity, and timelessness”. With the natural mineral water is sourced from the Himalayas and filled at the source in Himachal Pradesh at the women-led manufacturing facility, the brand ticks all the right boxes in terms of nature-knit and empowerment. “The water originates as glacial melt and naturally filters through mineral-rich formations before being drawn from a protected Himalayan reservoir,” they add. A perfect perch in terms of brand appeal. Especially with their FSC-certified paperboard cartons topped with plant-based caps made from sugarcane resin in an unusual first, and the purity of water, naturally alkaline with magnesium, calcium, and potassium, and bottled directly in Himachal, with no scope for adulteration.
A taste of India
With the flavour profile of water in carton remaining the same, the pour comes bereft of preservatives. “Our packaging and sealing technology help maintain the water’s purity, mineral profile, and taste integrity,” says Ishaan. Then there are limitations. With a shelf life of nine months, Kevala Niru brings in packaged drinking water from their production point in Coimbatore to cater to the entire market down South owing to the unavailability of certified natural mineral water sources in South India.
Pouring the volumes
With Kevala Niru steaming ahead with the first-mover advantage, Geetanjali is powering production units in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, and Coimbatore, turning out a minimum capacity of 800,000 packs per month from each plant. “We aim to establish our presence across 12 strategic locations nationwide to optimize logistics, reduce transit time, and efficiently meet rising demand across regions,” she says, pegging a higher demand for Kevala Niru’s smaller single serve sizes and revealing five more production facilities in the pipeline at Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Assam and Kolkata and expansion across UAE.
Heading their bootstrapped operation, Ishaan and Rhea are sourcing the paperboard used in Impact Water cartons from FSC-certified forests in Finland, ensuring it meets the highest global standards for sustainability. Printing, processing, and filling of the cartons is done entirely in India supporting local manufacturing and conforming to quality control measures. With a shelf-life of six months. “It is a reduced environmental footprint through localized operations,” shares Ishaan. “We source our water from an FSSAI-certified facility that adheres to the highest standards of hygiene and safety, ensuring every drop is pure, safe, and free of BPA and microplastic.” The duo commits a portion of every sale to environmental causes.
The gamechanger trend of drinking water from a pack brings in scope for portable billboard advertising. “As consumer attention shifts from volume to value, innovation in packaging will be a key growth driver,” agrees Geetanjali. Move aside flavoured water. With clean-label, electrolyte enriched options in the making under the Impact Water umbrella, it is a question of reimagining thirst and reinventing the basic sip.
As Loren Eiseley rightly said, “If there is magic on earth, it is in water.”