PATANJALI'S NEW GAME PLAN

The ₹45,000-crore Patanjali group is going through a tough time dealing with sluggish revenue growth and strictures from courts for misleading ads. But maverick yoga guru Swami Ramdev has a fresh growth recipe

- ARNAB DUTTA

THE JOURNEY SO FAR

• 2006-15: Patanjali Ayurved set up by Swami Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna; in 2015, clocks ₹2,000 crore yearly sales

• 2016-18: Hits ₹10,000 crore in group revenue; in 2018, revenue growth plateaus amid its focus on expanding distribution through general trade

• 2019: Acquires Ruchi Soya for ₹4,350 crore through insolvency process

• 2021: Ruchi renamed Patanjali Foods Ltd (PFL) after Patanjali Ayurved hands over foods business; group revenue jumps

• 2022: IMA files plea against Patanjali for spreading misconception

• 2023: Sebi freezes promoters' shares in PFL; raises public stake to 25% via OFS; Supreme Court warns Patanjali for its claims of curing diabetes and high BP

• Jan-Jun 2024: Supreme Court issues show-cause notice to Ramdev and Balkrishna; both tender unconditional apology

• July 2024: PFL board approves proposal to acquire Patanjali Ayurved's home and personal care business

IT'S A TYPICAL June afternoon in Haridwar. The sun is blazing down from a hot and copper sky, and the 43° C temperature has kept most people indoors. The occasional breeze lifts dust. After a tour of the Patanjali Research Institute near Bahadrabad in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, we are headed along the Delhi-Haridwar highway to the Patanjali Foods & Herbal Park in Mustafabad village, some 25 km away. But Swami Ramdev's convoy disappears in a cloud of dust as his Range Rover shoots off along the narrower local road.

Who would have thought that Swami Ramdev was a speed demon? Maybe sitting in a Range Rover (with a top speed of 290 kmph) with Z-category security does that to you. Or maybe it's the yoga guru's way of signalling his intent to double his Patanjali group's turnover to ₹1 lakh crore in just four years.