Himalayan springs have found a market 3,500 km away from home in Qatar, as Rudra Ganga Natural Water, a Nepalese company, starts exporting to the gulf country.
Nepal’s showcasing its evolving bottled water industry, Rudra Ganga Natural Water, a leading Nepalese company starts to ship bottled water to Doha.
The water is chemical-free, sourced from natural Himalayan springs, without any addition or subtraction of its naturally occurring minerals.
The first phase of the importing process has already started, with eight tonnes of water already air-freighted from Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, to Doha. Rudra Ganga Natural Water plans to export an additional 16 tonnes.
Qatari authorities have already tested and certified water samples provided by the company. The price of the bottled water in Qatari supermarkets starts at 3.50 QAR for 330ml.
Rudra Ganga Natural Water started its water production two and a half years ago with the goal of exporting bottled water sourced from Nepal. However the pandemic caused a two year delay that the company has recently overcome. The company’s ‘Himalaya Ontop’ brand bottled water is exported to South Korea and Hong Kong.
The Nepalese brand is hoping that its diaspora in Qatar will serve as brand ambassadors. “Many Nepalis work in the hospitality sectors and with hotels being one of our biggest consumers we have reached out to our Nepali workers there,” said Bibi Kharel, a representative from New Langtang Himalaya Trading and Contracting.
Clean drinking water access in Nepal
Nepal is extremely rich with water, with more than 6,000 rivers and the rains of the monsoon. Nepal has 2.7 % of the available freshwater on Earth, according to the International Institute of Water Management in Kathmandu.
Water is a basic human necessity. However, only 27% of the population in Nepal has access to safe and adequate drinking water.
Individuals and excluded groups living in rural areas have limited to no access to clean drinking water. Nepalese living in poverty, especially those in remote areas, have to rely on small brooks running from the mountains, and spend hours traveling to get water.
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