It was late 90s when KENT started its voyage and there was no such industry existed in India by the name of WATER PURIFIERS. A handful brands were trying their fate in this sector by selling very conventional purifiers through door to door marketing. Who would have thought that in couple of years, Indian water purifier industry will become one of the most lucrative sectors for national and international consumer durable brands to peep in and have a pie of over 3500 crore industry.
The journey of Indian water purifier industry started with the genesis of brand Kent RO. A brain child of an IITian Dr. Mahesh Gupta who left his well paid job to start making water purifiers in India. If today one is able to have access to RO water purifiers equipped with multiple purification techniques, then that has been made possible only by Dr. Mahesh Gupta who designed RO water purifier with combination of 3 technologies to make it suitable for treating every type of water irrespective of source.
The genesis of brand Kent
Landed accidentally in this sector Dr. Gupta designed first RO purifier for his own usage. His both children were suffering from jaundice and the culprit was drinking water. 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. Being an IITian, Dr. Gupta decided to invent his own water purifier. 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.
The Technology Revolution
Realizing, traditional RO filters were not effective for every type of water, Dr. Gupta worked on technology to make RO as a uniform water purifier capable of purifying all types of water irrespective of the sources of water. He came up with its revolutionary technology of RO+UV+UF+TDS controller which purifies water while retaining the essential natural minerals. This technology ensures that the water becomes not only the purest, but is healthy too. Here a new era was started in water purification industry and brand Kent became a house hold name for water purifiers.
The Marketing and Product Placement
Water purifiers were not able to find a place at consumer durable stores till 1999. Today, if water purifiers are retailed along with TV, refrigerators and washing machines, it is because Dr Gupta. The very first water purifier brand started selling through retail outlets. Dr Gupta understood the pulse of this market and again, very first time a Bollywood celebrity was roped in as a brand ambassador by any water purifier brand in the world.
No Chlorine Gravity Purifier
Dr Gupta didn’t stop here; his mission was to provide an effective and affordable water purifier. So next on the card was a gravity purifier which does not require any electricity or battery to operate. Dr Gupta was not convinced to use chlorine filter as it is harmful for health, hence he launched a model called Kent Gold – first of its kind purifier which does not required any chemical like chlorine, iodine to purify water. This product was launched as portable solution to a large section of society who cannot afford an RO and suitable for those remote areas where electricity is still an issue.
No Water wastage RO
Another breakthrough was an RO water purifier with no water wastage. Kent Supreme, an RO purifier with no water wastage is an answer from the brand to tackle the issue of water wastage happens through RO systems. An in-house designed patented technology product Kent Supreme ensures not even a single drop of water go waste, unlike conventional ROs which flush out 25-30 liters of water in a day.
Smart RO
Kent has recently launched 3 rd generation RO water purifier christened as Kent Superb. The Journey which started with first mineral RO technology product “Kent Grand” has now shaped up as a digitally controlled RO water purifier which gives you real time information of how impure is the water your are drinking. Kent Superb – The Smart RO purifier keeps users updated about the machine’s performance, the quality of water, filter change alarm and many other digital and helpful features.
Soon, this product will have IoT connectivity, which means; you will be able to connect it through WiFi and will be able access the whole performance data on your Smartphones.
MANUFACTURING FACILITY:
Kent RO Systems Ltd. has three state of the art manufacturing plants in ROORKI, Uttarakhand and the fourth one is coming up in GREATER NOIDA. With an investment of 100 crores, the company is readying up a new manufacturing plant in Greater Noida which will hike up the production. The Roorki facility is probably the largest water purifier manufacturing facility India with 1,00,000 sqr feet plant. Currently the manufacturing capacity of the company is 5 lakh pieces per year.
Distribution and Sales
Kent has the strongest distribution network, amongst the water purifier companies in India. Kent sells its products through various distribution channels – Retail chains, Modern Trade outlets, CSD & Police canteen, corporate tie ups, Direct door to door marketing and E-commerce.
The retail presence of brand Kent is phenomenal. Kent is present at around 12,000 retail outlets Pan India and has 3000 distributors, 300 Direct Marketing executive and a sales force of around 1500 sales persons. And most importantly Kent has a state of the art CRM based centralised call centre and Service centres which service 19,000 pin codes.
The company has also started setting up Experience Centres, where the customers can experience the innovative products. It will be a chain of 10 experience centers which will be on franchise model. The company has already opened 2 stores, one in DLF Mall of India and another in Lajpat Nagar Market. Certifications.
Every brand speaks high of itself, but trust develops when an accredited certification body endorses the product/brand. In the case of water purification industry, laboratories of international repute, like NSF, WQA and more recently ISI, have certified our products for its quality and efficacy.
AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS:
Dr Gupta was honored with Doctorate for his contribution in the field of water purification in the year 2015.Besides, he was awarded as “Distinguished Alumnus Award” by IIT Kanpur Alumni Association. In the year 2016, Dr Gupta took over the reins of PHD Chamber of Commerce the country’s oldest and only apex chamber working for MSMEs.
New Offerings:
Kent is working from day one on a mission Drink Pure, East Pure and Breathe Pure. Hence, each and every product of Kent RO is designed and sold to fulfill these 3 objectives. The new products in the Kent RO Family are:
- Kent Cam attendance
- Kent Cam eye
- Air Purifiers
- Cold Press Juicer
- Vacuum / Bed Cleaners
- Vegetable purifiers
The company has recently forayed in Small kitchen appliance segment with a whole new innovative range of products. This includes Noodle & Pasta Makers, Dosa Maker, Pizza & Omellette Maker, Turbo Blenders, Rice Cookers, Atta & Bread Maker and many more.
Another revolutionary product by Kent is a low cost water purifier Kent Gold AS which is capable of removing arsenic from water. Arsenic is the most harmful poison dissolved in the water and a route cause of cancer. So far only RO purifiers were able to remove dissolved arsenic from water, but with Kent Gold AS, which costs just Rs 3500 is capable of removing this dissolved poison from drinking water.
Overseas
The company is planning to double its exports in next two years. The company exports products to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Nepal and recently entered GCC Market.
