The food and soft drink giant Nestle has defended its decision to pull out of the Indian bottled water market, denying it is a setback for the group.
“This is a singular thing. There is intense price pressure in India due to the presence of many local and international producers,” said Nestle spokesman Francois-Xavier Perroud.
Perroud said the company may return to the Indian market once conditions were more favourable and argued that the withdrawal would stem losses. He said that while India was a potentially huge market it was so far very small market.
Nestle owned the Pure Life water brand in India, which is also available in Pakistan, China, Thailand, the Philippines. In India it was marketed in the New Delhi region.
