Boo PVR Cinemas & (Pepsi) Aquafina

PVR Cinemas, particularly the multiplex at Saket, is perhaps one of my most despised locations to watch a movie in Delhi. Bad legspace, terrible audio, overpriced yet extremely unappetizing snacks, parking problems, non-availability of tickets, poor variety of movies (Hindi & English mainstream 'blockbusters' only) are just few of the factors why I would rather buy / rent a DVD and watch it at home than go to this place. Today I found another one - bottled water.

It was one of those days where I wanted to see a movie on a big screen, and was able to do so in the morning. Morning shows alleviate the problems of parking and non-availability of tickets. so I said, "What the heck." The movie was nice, but here's something interesting I found. PVR cinemas gets specially packaged water from Aquafina. No big deal there. In addition, as per their display board, the cinema hall charged as per the MRP (Maximum Retail Price) on the bottle. That's sweet of them.

But here's the kicker.

The bottled is marked MRP Rs. 20.

But the net weight is only 750 ml.

With a little bit of Math, that means that this bottled water costs Rs. 26.67 per litre. Interestingly, a bottle of Aquafina in the regular market (presumably the water in both is of the same quality) comes for Rs. 12 per litre!

So what's going? Presumably this has something do with the case of Ankit Jain, who took Nirula's (a fast food chain) to Consumer court for charging him way above the MRP for a soft-drink can, won the case, thereby enforcing the law that packaged goods cannot be sold at cost above than the printed MRP.

Seems fishy!!! - has PVR cinemas found a loophole by colluding with the manufacturer to jack up the MRP?

Disclaimer: The alleged collusion and all above information is nothing more than a rant. There is no claim to truth in this article. I am not party to any information or agreement between PepsiCo and PVR Cinemas. This post is merely an observation by a lay consumer which leads to an interesting question. Furthermore, I do not claim that any such action or related actions by PepsiCo or PVR Cinemas is in any way contrary to the provisions of law. However, I reserve the right to have distaste for their deficiency of services.