this story originally appeared in on apr 28 2012 bangalore kolkata water is now more than just a thirst quencher and dairy drinks more than flavoured milk they can now rejuvenate you and boost your performance in the form of energy drinks vitamin water fortified milk and yogurt and enhanced iced tea among others a slew of companies including groupe danone dabur pespico cocacola amul britannia and rasna are betting on such functional beverages to woo the young healthconscious indian consumer functional beverages is an emerging segment and it pays to enter these categories early says sunil duggal ceo of dabur india which plans to launch valueadded beverages on the health under its real brand some of the products will be launched as soon as the second half of the fiscal he says french company groupe danone which makes bottled water qua in a joint venture with narang group is now testmarketing blue an aqua restorative drink in pune the 1835 age group is willing to try something new they are keen on products that are modern and stylish the first step of success is to surprise them says pierre betat country manager of danonenarang beverages he says the surprise elementaroma colourless liquid and tastehelps consumers who typically compare new products with cola and juices to become adopters quickly in a brief on functional beverages euromonitor international in november last said people in urban areas are concerned they are not getting essential nutrients due to erratic eating habits and schedules and are looking for easytoconsume fortified beverages euromonitor estimated indias functional soft drink market at rs 546 crore in 2011 19 more than the previous year amul the countrys largest food brand is rolling out prolife lassee and buttermilk to compete in a category created by probiotic yogurt drink yakult in india probiotics products have live bacteria which when consumed regularly improve intestinal health but the dairy giant is in no hurry to nationally launch its wheybased sports drink stamina which was first launched back in 2006 the company is waiting and watching says rs sodhi managing director of gujarat cooperative milk marketing federation which owns amul brand this is perhaps because some big players had to withdraw their functional drinks due to poor response examples include pepsicos energy drink sobe glaxosmithkline consumer healthcares sports drink lucozade and tata global beveragess teabased wellness drink ton pricing key piruz khambatta chairman and managing director of rasna blames these failures on their pricing and business strategy two problems with the functional drink segment in india is that companies have launched their foreign brands without local customisation and at prices which are far premium he says rasna indias largest instantdrink maker plans to enter the category in the mass market with a new subsidiary it is in talks with european and american firms to form either brand licensing arrangements or technical collaborations functional drinks contribution to total beverage sales at indias largest retailer future group is in single digits but devendra chawla