The Railways have deferred the launch of their bottled water brand Rail Neer to the end of next month in order to meet the new norms for purified water.

MN Chopra, managing director, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation told Business Standard that the company had made an additional investment to meet the tougher European Union norms, which would satisfy the Bureau of Indian Standards.

He said since BIS was revising its standards, the Railways' bottled water venture was being recalibrated to meet the EU norms.

Chopra added that IRCTC had already upgraded the infrastructure at its plants in Danapur and Delhi to meet the new purification levels.

IRCTC officials say they will adopt the new activated carbon chamber technology to try and meet the EU norms. Incidentally, many private bottlers have said the EU norms are impractical.

However, it seems the delay by the government in coming up with the revised bottled water standards will push back the launch date further.

The food processing ministry is waiting for the health ministry to clear the draft norms prepared by it.

The health ministry says that legislation will have to brought in Parliament to incorporate these amendments in the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.

Officials connected with the project said this would push the dates for publication of the new norms beyond June.

As IRCTC cannot market its bottled water without BIS certification, this will mean further delays. Thus, the Railways may probably fail to launch their brand in summer when demand for bottled water peaks.

The Railways hope to capture a sizeable part of the Rs 200-crore (Rs 2 billion) bottled water business on trains and railway platforms through Rail Neer.

The controversy over the presence of pesticide residues in popular bottled water brands broke just when the Railways were about to launch Rail Neer.

Though Railway Minister Nitish Kumar had then asserted that the brand did not have pesticide residue, the ministry had to float tenders for new machinery to upgrade the purification process.