Is Patanjali a threat to MNCs and government organizations?

MNCs are paranoid about Patanjali’s success,  its products and processes, because it has shown to other Indian companies in this segment, what it takes to become successful. “Patanjali is not here to threaten anyone, but to turn effort and thought to nurture and develop the science that is present in our tradition, and spread it to the benefit of the masses… if people do not understand it, it is their folly,” Acharya Balkrishna told. He defended vigorously against the questions raised by The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Patanjali’s products. “The previous government tried to find fault and in fact it helped us… it turned out that negative publicity was good publicity for us… even today we are open to all tests and scrutiny that is applicable to others,” he said. Read more on Acharya Balakrishan the world richest man!

Background of Patanjali

Patanjali company was launched in 1995 as Divya pharmacy to make ayurvedic drugs. The purpose of the firm was to treat people who had lost the hope to live, when modern medical science failed to cure their diseases. The company uses traditional medicinal and non – medicinal plants, herbs, flowers, seeds and fruits cultivated by Indian farmers in most of their products to cure diseases. “We saw that farmers who grew many traditional fruits like Amla (Indian gooseberry) and aloevera do not have a market or get a fair price.

The effort to get them the price and market and help the masses get help from nature to cure their pain was the genesis of Patanjali,” explained Balkrishna. The organization which started only with 100 farmers, 100 employees and 10 crores capital, is worth over Rs. 5000 crores today and provides direct employment to over one lakh Indian farmers in north India who grow and supply the raw materials required to manufacture Patanjali products. The company is slowly spreading its wings in south India through its employees and plans to woo the farmers of south India by providing more than ten thousand direct jobs and fifteen thousand indirect jobs.

Future plans

Patanjali may soon invest around ‘Rs. 1,600 crore’ in the Noida region for setting up a food processing plant around Diwali time adding another 10,000 direct jobs. Patanjali has plans to set up four units in the Special Economic Zone at Vidarbha, where farmers have been struggling for years. This unit will export 100 per cent of its production.

Our Take on Patanjali CEO

Patanjali became an instant hit in the Indian market not by celebrities’ advertisements but by word of mouth owing to its cheap pricing and good quality ayurvedic products which actually cured illnesses and provided nutrition to the masses. Here is a testimonial by a farmer in Uthrakhand, “Patanjali had given us assurance and also helped us with seeds and saplings, the financial benefit is there, but to see the product on TV and internet makes us proud,” says Mahinder Rawat, who owns two acres of farm land in Uttrakhand and has cultivated Amla for the last two years.

Patanjali as a brand should be encouraged by the Indian government because it has given hope, income, employment and pride to Indian farmers who had lost hope of making a decent livelihood due to cheating with the prices of their products by middlemen and corrupt bureaucrats in the Indian government itself. It has made all products of all categories affordable to the common man of India and they have been testified to be of quality by the people of India. It has employed lakhs of people through direct and indirect employment and plans to employ 2% of the Indian population! Last but not the least, it has uplifted the image of ayurveda in the minds of the people in India as well as abroad. The trust that Indian farmers can produce quality and useful products has been restored in the minds of the people.

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