History

Piramal Water Private Limited is a for-profit business that was established in mid-2008 to find viable mass-market solutions to India’s drinking water crisis.  Our water is sold under the brand “Sarvajal”, meaning “Water for All.”

Piramal Water has it’s roots in the work of the Piramal Foundation, a charitable trust established by Ajay G. Piramal.  The foundation initially piloted the Bagar Drinking Water Initiative as part of its Grassroots Development Laboratory in Rajasthan. The goal was to reduce fluoride contamination of drinking water in the Shekhawati region that had been linked to serious health problems.

The pilot revealed the enormous potential for market-based solutions to drive cost leadership, spur technological innovation and establish proper incentives  to improve clean water access in India. The initiative was renamed Piramal Water Private Limited.

Business Model

Like many water service providers, we believe that local communities  are best positioned to meet their own water needs. Our model puts this belief directly into practice using Rural Franchising.

We recruit local entrepreneurs to sell water to their communities from Piramal Water-owned filtration equipment. We do this because:

  • Franchisees know their communities: Franchisees are responsible for operating the machines and selling water to customers
  • Sarvajal knows the machines: We are responsible for all filtration unit maintenance and repairs
  • We have same incentives: Both Franchisee and Company earnings depend on how much drinking water is sold to households who need it. We are both incentivized to provide pure water and excellent service in order to strengthen the Sarvajal brand across India.

Local entrepreneurs are offered the opportunity to become Sarvajal Franchisees only after a rigorous due diligence process. Being a Franchisee is not a salaried position – it is a chance to run a business with significant growth prospects. We select for individuals who possess key qualities including business acumen, reliability, social values and ambition.

Franchisees pay an upfront fee that represents a fraction of the capital cost of the filtration unit. Water revenues are shared 60:40 between the Franchisee and Sarvajal. Most Franchisees will hire an Operator, a Driver (for delivering water direct to households) and a Helper for the Driver – each new Sarvajal location therefore creates on average three local employment opportunities.

Anand Shah: Chief Executive Officer

Anand is the founding CEO of Sarvajal. Before starting Sarvajal, Anand founded the Indicorps NGO. He is a Harvard graduate and the CEO of the Piramal Foundation.

Shashank Rastogi: Chief Operations Officer

Shashank is the COO of Sarvajal. He was educated at IIT and IIM and has also worked for Talisma Corporation and PricewaterhouseCoopers

Kunal Upadhyay: Chief Financial Officer

Kunal is the CFO of Sarvajal. He was educated at IIT and IIM and has also worked for American Express and Citibank.

Naman Shah: Head – R&D

Naman is the head of research and development for Sarvajal. He was educated at Stanford University and was an Indicorps fellow in 2007.

B.A. Patel: Head – Gujarat

Mr. Patel is in charge of the franchises in Gujarat. He focuses on marketing but also handles major maintenance concerns and public relations.

Jaydip & Nilesh Patel: Managers-Business Development

Jaydip and Nilesh are in charge of business development. They work in the field and help open new franchises and also help them in the first stages of development.

Bhupendra Joshi: Accountant

Mr. Joshi is in charge of accounting at the Ahmedabad office. He maintains Sarvajal’s finances and tax liabilities.

Sandeep Vaghela: Administrative Manager.

Sandeep is the Administrative Manager of our Ahmedabad office. He has been involved in numerous other NGO’s prior to joining Sarvajal, including Seva Café and Mana Sadhana.

Maharshi Patel: Sarvajal 2009 Fellow

Maharshi is working as a fellow for Sarvajal He is studying at Duke University and is preparing a manual that will teach franchisees how to run an effective business.

Jitu, Tirath, Prakash, Sanjay & Jassu: Maintenance/Office Assistants

Jitu, Tirath, Prakash, Sanjay and Jassu handle maintenance concerns and manage office work at the Ahmedabad office of Sarvajal.