Tata Chemicals on Wednesday said that it intended to set up a second unit for manufacturing its water purifiers, sold under the Tata Swach brand that was launched late last year, with a likely investment of ' 50 crore.

The company already has a facility at Haldia, where it currently manufactures 1 million units of the purifier per annum.

"We are yet to finalise the location of the new plant. But rice husk is a key raw material for the purifier, so it (new facility) should be close to a rice-producing belt," Tata Chemicals managing director R Mukundan said at the product's launch in Eastern India, adding that the proposed facility would have a capacity of 500,000 units annually.

Tata Swach, which uses a combination of low-cost ingredients such as rice husk with nano-technology, is available in three variants across Maharashtra, Karnataka, apart from the Northern and Eastern markets.

The pan-India roll-out of the product is expected to be completed by this fiscal, subsequent to which the company could look at eventually establishing 3-4 facilities nationwide to service each region better.

This fiscal, the firm expects to sell about 1 million units of the purifier, with revenues of about Rs 75 crore. But the numbers are expected to grow significantly. "Less than 10 per cent of households in India use purifiers. So the potential is very large. We are already selling 50,000 units per month," he said.

Tata Chemicals is also working on a blueprint for an international roll-out. "There are lots of enquiries and interest coming from Africa and other parts of Asia. We will reach out there very soon," Mukundan added.