?Godrej Group appoints Ndidi Nwuneli as an additional director

Patanjali Ayurveda which claimed to be reluctant in Ruchi Soya Industries has surprisingly submitted a bid for the commodities player, the last day given by the resolution professional to submit bids for the bankrupt company.

Patanjali Ayurveda’s entry in the auction process of Ruchi Soya complicates matters for other companies Godrej Agrovet, Adani Wilmar and Emami which, too, submitted bids on Wednesday as the Baba Ramdev-led firm is a known disrupter in the FMCG segment.

If successful, Patanjali gets a firm foothold in the cooking oils business where Adani, through its partnership with Wilmar, Emami and Godrej are established players. Patanjali Ayurveda already has a tie-up with Ruchi Soya for edible oil refining and packaging.

With around 24 plants of crushing, milling, refining, and packaging edible oils, an acquisition of Ruchi Soya will be useful to Adani Wilmar and Godrej Agrovet, helping them consolidate their positions in the market.

Initially, 20-odd companies were said to be in the race to acquire Ruchi Soya, which has a product portfolio that includes well-known brands like Nutrela, Ruchi Gold, and Ruchi Star. However, on Wednesday, only four players submitted their bids, multiple sources told TOI. Ruchi Soya, promoted by Dinesh Shahra, owes more than Rs 10,000 crore to creditors. After the company failed to repay the dues, the creditors decided to auction the firm and they appointed Shailendra Ajmera of EY to oversee the bidding process.

Ruchi Soya Industries closed 16% down at Rs 13 on the BSE on Wednesday.

Godrej Nature's Basket, which is aiming for sustainable profitable growth through omnichannel expansion over the next three to five years, has also put in place a new management team.

Tanya Dubash, Executive Director & Chief Brand Officer, Godrej Industries, said, "We are in the process of consolidating our business as you might know."

"We have got a new management in the beginning of this year, we also got Bain (& Company) to help us with the strategy and we are working strongly on that, we have identified new value proposition, we have got a good new senior management team," Dubash said.

She said the company would be "in a better position towards the end of the year to outline the strategy more clearly" on Nature's Basket business.

As per the company's annual report of FY 2015-16, it was operating 37 stores of Nature's Basket in Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

The company had invested Rs 65 crore in Nature's Basket last fiscal to support its growth plans.

It had a sales turnover of Rs 271 crore in FY2015-16, delivering a year-on-year growth of 30 per cent. However, it had registered a loss of Rs 62.69 crore last fiscal.