Last updated : September 07, 2026 8:30 am
Partnering for local membrane manufacturing under the Hydramem brand is a strategic move to drive import substitution and build robust domestic capabilities
With a 62-year heritage behind Ion Exchange, how do you balance preserving traditional engineering excellence with the rapid need for future-ready innovation?
Ion Exchange stands among the few integrated players globally offering total water and environment management solutions—combining a strong portfolio of products, engineering expertise, and 24X7 services. At the core of this offering are our trusted INDION ion exchange resins, Hydramem RO–NF–UF membranes, specialty and green chemicals, along with a wide range of standard and customised water treatment products.
This strong product backbone enables us to address the entire water cycle—across process water, wastewater treatment, recycling, desalination, and high-purity systems. These solutions are further strengthened by our robust engineering and execution capabilities, allowing seamless integration from design to commissioning and lifecycle support.
At the same time, the industry is rapidly evolving with increasing emphasis on digitalization in water and environment systems and IonSite, our digital water management platform, enables real-time monitoring, analytics, predictive insights, and remote plant management—helping customers optimize performance, efficiency and uptime.
With over six decades of experience in water and environment management, Ion Exchange brings a deep legacy of excellence, process understanding and dependable execution across industries and geographies. This foundation gives us a unique ability to adapt and innovate while maintaining reliability at scale.
Our strength lies in the synergy between proven legacy and forward-looking innovation—where world-class products, strong engineering capability and 24X7 services come together to deliver sustainable, future-ready water and environment solutions.
Ion Exchange partnership with MANN+HUMMEL for local membrane manufacturing is a significant move towards import substitution. How much do you anticipate this will reduce operational costs for your domestic projects?
The collaboration for local membrane manufacturing under our Hydramem brand is a strategic step towards import substitution and strengthening domestic capabilities. While cost savings vary depending on application and system configuration, local manufacturing is expected to deliver meaningful overall efficiency gains through reduced import dependence, lower logistics costs, and improved supply chain resilience.
More importantly, it enhances execution agility for domestic projects by reducing lead times and enabling faster customization and service support, which are critical for large-scale industrial and infrastructure water projects.
The Consumer Products division (ZeroB) operates in a highly competitive retail market. What is your roadmap to strengthen its performance and drive sustainable growth?
ZeroB remains a strategically important consumer-facing brand for Ion Exchange, with strong equity in safe and reliable water purification solutions. Our roadmap for sustainable profitability is centred on moving to higher-value offerings, innovation-led product launches, sharper channel expansion and stronger service-led customer retention.
With a healthy pipeline of new products and growing consumer awareness around water quality and wellness, we continue to see strong long-term potential for ZeroB in the retail market.
As industries move toward "Zero Liquid Discharge," how is Ion Exchange evolving its technology to support circular water systems?
The shift toward Zero Liquid Discharge is fundamentally transforming water from a consumable resource into a circular asset. At Ion Exchange, we are advancing integrated solutions that combine biological treatment, membranes under Hydramem and ion exchange systems to maximize water recovery and reuse.
We are also increasingly focused on resource recovery, including salts and by-products wherever feasible. Through Indion Green chemical solutions, we are further enhancing process efficiency and environmental performance. The objective is to enable industries to minimize freshwater intake while maximizing reuse and value recovery.
You recently completed a SAP migration. Beyond internal ERP, how are you leveraging AI and IoT to offer 'smart water' solutions?
The SAP migration has strengthened our internal digital backbone. Beyond ERP, our external focus is on building intelligent water systems through IonSite, our digitalisation platform.
We are integrating AI, IoT, and advanced analytics into our O&M services to enable real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance and energy optimisation across water and wastewater treatment plants.
These capabilities are helping us move toward more performance-driven service models, improving plant reliability, efficiency and lifecycle value for customers across our installed base.
Which emerging technology will be the biggest game-changer by 2030?
By 2030, multiple technologies will reshape the water sector, particularly AI-enabled digital water management, advanced membrane systems and sustainability-led treatment innovations.
Among these, AI-driven smart water management is likely to be the most impactful enabler, shifting the industry from reactive to predictive operations through real-time monitoring, process optimisation, predictive maintenance and digital twins.
Alongside this, next-generation membranes and high-recovery separation technologies will significantly improve efficiency, water recovery and performance in challenging applications. The real transformation, however, will come from the convergence of digital intelligence, advanced materials and circular water solutions.
How does Ion Exchange measure its net-positive impact on global water scarcity?
We measure our impact on global water scarcity through real outcomes—how much water is reused, recycled and conserved and how significantly we help reduce freshwater dependence across industries. Beyond numbers, it is also about improving long-term water resilience through solutions that are designed for efficiency, reuse and lower environmental footprint across their lifecycle.
Ultimately, our impact is reflected in enabling customers to do more with less water and in supporting a more sustainable and circular approach to water management at scale.
How are environmental regulations in India acting as a catalyst for your business model?
Environmental regulations in India are an important catalyst in accelerating the industry’s transition toward more sustainable and efficient water management. We fully respect this direction, as it strengthens long-term environmental responsibility and resource stewardship.
For industry, these evolving norms are driving a more structured shift toward integrated and technology-led water solutions to ensure compliance in a reliable and cost-effective manner. Our business model is well aligned to this need, with a combination of products, engineering and lifecycle services that enables customers to upgrade, operate and optimise their water infrastructure more effectively.
Overall, regulations are accelerating the adoption of modern water and environment solutions across sectors.
What is the most important factor in maintaining efficiency and zero-harm safety standards?
The most important factor is building a culture where safety and efficiency are embedded into everyday operations and led from the top. Strong engineering design, trained personnel, disciplined processes, and preventive maintenance all play a critical role.
Efficiency and safety are interdependent and both are strengthened through continuous improvement, operational visibility and early risk identification. Ultimately, it is the integration of people, process and technology that sustains zero-harm standards and high performance.