AUM Premium is targeting India’s hospitality sector to drive growth in the premium bottled water segment, with plans to build partnerships across hotels, restaurants and wellness establishments. The brand, which offers niche Himalayan spring water, Glow Water and an affirmation-led bottle collection, is banking on rising consumer interest in wellness and premium hydration to build its market presence. In an interaction with Asmita Mukherjee, Jagriti Motwani, Founder & CEO, AUM Premium discusses the growth potential of premium bottled water in India.
Please brief us about AUM Premium, its product offerings and the vision behind the brand. What is driving the premiumisation of India’s bottled water market, and how significant is the opportunity for the hospitality industry?
AUM Premium is built around the idea of mindful hydration, bringing together naturally sourced Himalayan spring water and the philosophy of Affirm, Uplift and manifest. Our offerings include natural spring water, Glow Water by AUM Premium supports beauty and wellness from within, focusing on skin elasticity, hair hydration and everyday vitality and the Affirmation Collection, where bottles are designed around positive intentions to make everyday hydration a more meaningful experience.
Consumers are becoming more conscious of what they consume, including product provenance quality and the values associated with the brands they choose. This is creating an opportunity for premium hydration brands that offer a clear and credible value proposition.
For the hospitality industry, premium bottled water presents an opportunity to offer consumers a more considered choice within an everyday category. The opportunity lies in meeting expectations around product quality and provenance while ensuring that the proposition makes sense for the setting in which it is served.
Why did you choose to build AUM Premium around natural Himalayan spring water and affirmation bottles as two distinct offerings?
We wanted to bring together the natural qualities of Himalayan spring water and a more thoughtful approach to an everyday essential. Water is something people consume everyday and we saw an opportunity to make that experience more intentional.
AUM stands for Affirm, Uplift and Manifest. This philosophy comes to life through our Affirmation Collection, where each bottle is designed around an intention, encouraging small moments of mindfulness in everyday life. The natural spring water provides the product foundation, while the affirmations give the brand a distinctive identity.
For us, the two offerings come together through the same belief: hydration can be both a fundamental daily need and an opportunity to reconnect with one’s intentions.
What opportunities do hotels, restaurants, spas and wellness resorts offer for premium bottled water brands, and how are you approaching this B2B market?
Hydration is increasingly becoming part of the overall consumer experience across premium hospitality, dining and wellness spaces. In these settings consumers are not only evaluating the quality of what they consume but also the provenance, presentation and values associated with the product they choose.
This creates a natural opportunity for AUM Premium across hotels, premium restaurants, cafes, wellness centers and corporate workplaces. Our proposition fits particularly well in environments where quality, experience and conscious consumption are already central to the customer proposition.
Our focus is on building these channels thoughtfully, identifying partnerships that align with our positioning and expanding our presence without diluting what makes AUM Premium distinctive.
How do you balance the premium positioning of bottled water with pricing, sustainability concerns and the need to build repeat consumption?
India remains a highly value-conscious market, so premium pricing has to be supported by a clear and credible value proposition. Consumers need to understand what they are paying for from the source and natural mineral composition to the packaging, logistics and overall product experience.
At the same time, sustainability needs to be built how a brand operates. At AUM Premium, we have been working towards paper-based packaging while also partnering with Scrapbuddy to encourage responsible recycling. These efforts need to work alongside product integrity, consumer convenience and operational feasibility.
For us building repeat consumption comes down to maintaining consistent quality making the product accessible and offering a clear reason for consumers to choose the brand. We want to build a premium hydration brand that combines natural provenance, mindful consumption and thoughtful sustainability while remaining true to the values on which AUM Premium was built.
Asmita.mukherjee@saffronsynergies.in
