Q. What do you find the most interesting in this industry? Give few lines about yourself? Today, the penetration of RO water purifiers is hardly 1.5 per cent of the total households. But, we are hopeful that the demand will rise steeply because of the deteriorating water quality, increasing awareness of health hazards related to impure water and also a good feedback from users of RO purifiers.
One of the major challenges is to educate the consumers about the need for RO purification. Even today, boiling is considered the best method for purifying water, but consumers should understand that boiling does not remove dissolved impurities. RO is essential to remove dissolved impurities. Moreover, the consumer mindset has largely been reactive rather than proactive. People usually look for water purifiers only when they encounter waterborne diseases. It is a challenge to create awareness that it is a must to purify their water using RO purifiers to prevent the onset of waterborne diseases.
The Genesis of the Brand Dr. Mahesh Gupta,- An IIT-Kanpur graduate from a Class of 1975— who was happy working for the Indian Oil, this is nothing short of a dream today. Having gained sufficient expertise during his 10-year stint IOL, Dr. Gupta quit in the mid-1980s to turn his passion into an enterprise. His parents were livid at such an‘ adventurous’ move. But he had ideas and confidence even though he didn’ t have money.
In 1998, when his teenage children, fell prey to jaundice, Dr. Gupta was forced to look for a water purifier to install at his south Delhi home. He set out to search the market. The stuff available in the market left him unimpressed. Market leading purifiers then and even now, mainly work on Ultra Violet principle. Essentially, in these water purifiers, water goes through UV Light which attacks the bacteria and kills them, giving customers bacteria free water. As a concerned parent, Dr. Gupta was very well aware that this was not enough. With greater industrial activity groundwater had become contaminated with impurities that dissolve in water such arsenic, rust, pesticides and fluorides. Take salt or sugar for example, once dissolved into the water you can’ t see them. The UV Light method can’ t rid the water of such dissolved substances. He wanted to make a purifier that removes all these.
So, Dr. Gupta decided to noodle on the technology and flesh out his own ideas. It helped that he was by then running SS Engendering, a petroleum products company, his first entrepreneurial venture after leaving his job from Indian Oil. After several trials and six months of hard work, he zeroed in on a technology-reverse osmosis( RO)-which promised the results he wanted, and the first KENT purifier was born in March 1999. Recognizing its potential, and in order to promote a healthy and happy life for other families, he decided to market this invention.
So, from there, he started his expeditions from a small garage where he used to design these purifiers with his own patented technology. And that’ s how Kent RO came into being. Kent RO now is a rupee 800 crore company, which has grown immensely.
Q. What is the next trend in the purification industry? The concern over air pollution is in the forefront. Air pollution is reaching alarming levels in India and air quality plunging to the‘ severe’ category. Air pollution in the country is at hazardous levels, breaching safety limits and prompting severe health concerns among the residents, particularly pregnant women, young children, the elderly and people with respiratory conditions and heart diseases. Some immediate preventive steps which are taken by Delhites are opting for an air purifier for home, and Car air purifiers while on the go. The popularity of air purifiers is growing steadily. So, this is the next trend in the industry.
Q. What is your next step towards a pure life? After Pure Water, Kent RO is upbeat for Clean Air. We have come up with a whole new range of HEPA Based Air Purifiers. Air pollution is a major environmental health problem affecting the developing and the developed countries alike. Consumers are affected by pollution in the air, and we would like people to get relief from this. So we are providing a solution. We are hopeful that this demand will increase in the near future. As this kind of technology would not just help people with asthma and other respiratory illnesses but will contribute to reducing the rate of respiratory diseases in the capital city.
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| December 2017 |