Pawan Chitrakar
Director
Himalayan Spring Water Ltd

By Sujan Dhungana

Himalayas’ ONTOP mineral water is an example of how foreign investment can help promote the domestic industry in Nepal.

The brand, first launched by Korean Investment Pvt Ltd in 2007, has not only become a favourite among banks, INGOs, NGOs, restaurants and big corporate houses, but has also gone international.

“Our products were new for the market when we first launched them. Our objective was to create an aware consumer base that appreciates our peculiarity,” said Ganga Dhital, Manager of Himalayan Spring Water.

The company was established by the Korean firm with an initial capital of $ 60 million. It adopted reverse osmosis process to rid the pristine water from Langtang National Park, Rasuwa, of impurities. In order to maintain the original taste of the collected water, the company uses series of filtration processes such as sand filtration and carbon filtration.

With an increasing demand in both the domestic and international markets, Mukti Shree Pvt Ltd, a domestic company combined forces with the Korean initiative to explore the market.

“As it was a new product in the market with comparatively high price, it was difficult get people to buy. However, Himalayas’ ONTOP primarily focused on the quality of the water and started direct campaigns door-to-door awareness programmes in the Nepali market,” informed Dhital.

Few years ago the upgraded to AVE machines from Italy to fill and package water using four-step filtration through micro filters of up to 0.2 micron.

Pawan Chitrakar, director of the states that the market acknowledged the spring water’s true quality later. He says “We tried to give our consumers original mineral water rather than just processed water, and finally we succeeded.”

The company asserts that the market today is very competitive and any product really needs a good branding. “Though we have not launched big campaigns till date, we are planning to do so soon,” says Dhital. “Since our basic target are business executives, we have put up some advertisement at the International Airport and in at the domestic airport in Pokhara.”

“Banks, INGOs, NGOs, restaurants and big corporate houses have liked our product. We are also exporting our products to India, Korea, Hong Kong and the UAE.”

The company, together with Dynamic Dreams Trade Link Pvt Ltd -- the sole distributor, is planning to come up with a new 15-liter jar in the market. “We will try giving the best to our customers and I urge consumers to be health-conscious,” Dhital concludes.

Manufacturing Technology

ONTOP’s plant is located at Langtang  National Park -- 2,000m above the sea level. The factory uses a fully automated bottling system. The water passes through upgraded AVE machines imported from Italy. The plant uses NISSIE machines from Japan to do the bottling.

Achievements

Himalayas’ ONTOP has been recognized by www.finewaters. com as the ‘Best Drinking Water in the World’ and also awarded the best Designed Bottle by Pentawards, France (2008).