Bhubaneswar, Sep 26 (IANS): The water purifier market in India is expected to grow 229 percent, up from Rs.18.64 billion in 2012 to Rs.61 billion in 2017, market research firm Market Pulse said Thursday.

The firm carried out an extensive survey among 10,000 households in 62 towns to glean consumer behaviour over the last few years to arrive at its conclusion.

"Nearly 67 per cent of the Indian households do not treat drinking water and those who treat were found to be relying largely on age-old boiling method. This situation has given rise to the water purifier market," Market Pulse chief executive officer Ejaz Hoda told IANS.

The industry offers three types of water purification technology - reverse osmosis (RO), ultra violet (UV) and offline or storage water purifiers.

The RO purifier market is likely to grow to more than three million units valued at almost Rs.41 billion in 2017 from the existing 786,000 units valued at almost Rs.10 billion, he said.

In the category of RO water purifiers, Kent and Eureka Forbes are the largest players; they have a combined market share of more than 70 per cent.

Pureit water purifiers from Hindustan Unilever and TATA Chemicals' Swach are the main players in the offline category.

Aquasure and AquaGuard from Eureka Forbes continue to dominate the Ultra violet water purifier category.