Leading packaged drinking water brands such as Bisleri, Bailey and Man- ickchand Oxyrich don't expect Ms Mamata Baner- jee's plans to sell cheap bot- tled drinking water to rail- way travellers to eat into their sales. However, indus- try experts feel that if the plans to set up six clean drinking water bottling plants come through as planned, then smaller local brands, which account for a substantial share of the Indi- an market, may face a threat. "Our railway volumes are very, very low. So it will not affect us that much. Though we are the registered com- pany by the railways, the railway stations, canteens and catering services sell bottled water manufactured by small non-branded play- ers. This is because railway- authorised distributors get better margins from the unorganised players," said Ms Anjana Ghosh, director, business development and human resources, Bisleri. Currently, even where Rail Neer-packaged drinking water is available, the rail- way station canteens and catering service providers in long-distance trains sell bot- tled water sourced from local firms which retail at the same price as bigger national brands but are sold to the vendors at much lower prices than the nation- al brands. According to experts, this happens because railways have no control over the catering units. "We had sev- eral meetings with the rail- way authorities last year on this issue. They should reg- ulate the kind of water that is being served to the com- muters. At the end of the day, the customer is paying the market price for a brand about whom he has no idea," said Ms Ghosh. Ms Banerjee has proposed setting up of six new bot- tling plants through the PPP route. The bottling plants will come up at Ambala, Amethi, Mal, Nasik, Farak- ka (West Bengal) and Thiru- vananthapuram. "To provide basic facility of clean drinking water to 1.8 crore passengers, I pro- pose to start six bottling plants through PPP route with the mandate that bot- tled fresh water will be pro- vided at much cheaper rates," Ms Banerjee said. It appears, however, that large players like Bisleri are not interested in partnering the railways for this initiative. Mr Ramesh Chauhan, chair- man and MD, Bisleri, said, "We do not intend to do any kind of partnership with the railways." Mr Sanjiv Jaju, director, sales (packaged drinking water division), Parle Agro, said Bailey was certified by the railways to be sold on trains/railways stations and platforms across India. "We have a national presence in the railways segment and hence it is an important market for us. But we don't think the government's decision will affect us adversely," he said. A PepsiCo India spokesperson (the makers of the packaged drinking water brand Aquafina) said, "We can't comment at pres- ent. It is just a comment made by the minister today. We would not able to say anything."