‘Black drinking water’ at ₹100 a bottle – a 30-year old Gujarati realtor’s new business idea for India's healthy brigade

• AV Organics, a startup based out of Vadodara, has a new product called Evocus which is a black coloured drinking water.
• Black alkaline water is a popular concept abroad but is still in its infant stages in India.
• The alternative to water is high in nutrients and has multiple health benefits that are yet to be fully proven.

Black alkaline water has been a popular concept in many countries but in India, the idea of a black coloured water is new if not strange. But the 30-year old Aakash Vaghela who brought the product to India is excited about the prospects.

Vaghela set up a startup AV Organics in 2018, and launched black alkaline water under the brand ‘Evocus’ in June this year. “I was studying the benefits of alkaline water when I started looking for its availability in India. I was surprised to see a handful of companies producing it at a very small scale,” Aakash Vaghela, founder of AV Organics told Business Insider.

Alkaline water has a pH level more than 7. Even though it’s not been proven yet, it is reported to have many benefits – it has over 70 minerals with high pH level – like better metabolism and digestion, faster absorption of oxygen, detoxification, and many more.

However, in India, it costs ₹100 a bottle, which can be considered a steep price for water. So, it’s expensive and less known. Vaghela is not putting all his eggs in this basket. He also runs his own real estate company in Vadodara.

Fade to black

As he jumped into the business of black water, he found other problems too– normal water when turned into alkaline returns back to normal in 72 hours. One can’t sell something like that.

That’s when a US-based Dr. Norbert Chirase, who holds a PhD in Nutrition from Texas A&M University, came to the rescue, providing scientific knowhow and technical expertise for product development. “Now, we source the minerals from the US and then at our manufacturing facility in Vadodara, we use these minerals to enrich the water. They hold the alkalinity of the water for over 12 months,” Vaghela said.

Evocus – Labeled as a ‘nutrient water’ – is currently available in Pune (100 stores), Chandigarh (40), and Ahmedabad as well as on Amazon.

Long way to go

However, there is no awareness regarding alkaline water in India, so Vaghela has to build his brand as well as the product category.

But he isn’t paying for expensive hoardings or television ads. Instead, online influencers get the increasingly health-conscious Indians, who can afford to pay 100 bucks a bottle, to look at black alkaline water.

The premium water market is increasing in India with big brands like Coca Cola too entering the space.