Patanjali to setup its foot in dairy business; Aims to cross 5 lakh crore mark by 2022

Patanjali Dairy, a subsidiary of Patanjali Ayurved Limited, has introduced toned milk and cow butter at a cheaper rate than the other leading dairy companies. These products will be made available to customers across five major cities in India, including Delhi NCR, Rajasthan, Haryana and Maharashtra.

Baba Ramdev, Co-founder of Patanjali Ayurved, said, “Keeping in view the increasing demand of toned milk in the country, Patanjali is now selling milk at Rs 40 per litre, which is Rs 4 cheaper than what other companies are selling.”

“As of now, our aim is to provide at least 4 lakh litre daily. This has given huge respite to the consumers, as the two leading dairy companies, Amul and Mother Dairy, have increased milk prices,” he added.

Patanjali Dairy has also launched cow milk in tetra pack. The company’s other dairy products such as cow milk, cheese and curd, which it launched earlier, received a good response from the customers.

Ramdev further stated, “We have also launched ‘cow table butter’ in the market, which, unlike other companies, does not have artificial colours in it. It has natural colours and salt, which makes it good for health.”

मदर डेयरी ने कहा है कि बाबा रामदेव के पतंजलि समूह द्वारा सस्ता पैक किए गए गाय के दूध के बावजूद कीमतें कम नहीं होंगी। कंपनी ने यह कहते हुए विश्वास व्यक्त किया कि इससे कोई फर्क नहीं पड़ता कि इस सेगमेंट में कितने खिलाड़ी प्रवेश करते हैं, इसकी बिक्री की मात्रा प्रभावित नहीं होगी।

मदर डेयरी प्रति दिन लगभग 7 लाख लीटर गाय दूध बेच रही है, मुख्य रूप से दिल्ली-एनसीआर बाजार में। मदर डेयरी गाय के दूध 42 रुपये प्रति लीटर बेचती है, जबकि हरिद्वार स्थित पतंजलि आयुर्वेद ने 40 रुपये प्रति लीटर लॉन्च किया है।

मदर डेयरी फ्रूट एंड सब्जी प्राइवेट लिमिटेड के निदेशक सौगाता मित्रा ने कहा, "हम प्रतिस्पर्धा का स्वागत करते हैं। पतंजलि समूह की प्रविष्टि से गाय दूध खंड के समग्र आकार में वृद्धि होगी। इससे किसानों और ग्रामीण अर्थव्यवस्था में भी मदद मिलेगी, लेकिन हम न तो गाय के दूध की कीमत में वृद्धि करेंगे और न ही कम करेंगे।"

पतंजलि ने पिछले हफ्ते गाय दूध और दूध आधारित डेयरी उत्पादों को लॉन्च करके गाय दूध खंड में अपनी मांग की घोषणा की थी। कंपनी वित्त वर्ष 20 तक लगभग 1000 करोड़ रुपये की बिक्री को लक्षित कर रही है।

मित्रा ने कहा, "हम पिछले 40 सालों से दिल्ली-एनसीआर बाजार की सेवा कर रहे हैं। हमारे ग्राहक ब्रांड के प्रति वफादार हैं। देश भर में पैक किए गए गाय दूध बाजार प्रति दिन करीब 10-12 लाख लीटर होने का अनुमान है। हम बेचते हैं वर्तमान में लगभग 7 लाख प्रति दिन और अगले वर्ष मार्च तक प्रति दिन 8 लाख लीटर तक पहुंचने का अनुमान है।"

मदर डेयरी प्रति दिन 36-37 लाख लीटर दूध की आपूर्ति करती है। इनमें से 32 लाख लीटर प्रति दिन दिल्ली-एनसीआर में आपूर्ति की जाती है।

इससे पहले, बाबा रामदेव ने कहा था, "हमारा दूध अन्य स्थापित ब्रांडों की तुलना में 2 रुपये प्रति लीटर 40 रुपये प्रति सस्ता होगा। हमारा लक्ष्य है कि अगले वित्त वर्ष में 1,000 करोड़ रुपये का कारोबार हो। इस वित्त वर्ष में, हमारे पास कारोबार होगा 500 करोड़ रुपये।"

Mother Dairy has said that it will not reduce prices despite cheaper packaged cow milk by Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Group. The company expressed confidence by saying that it doesn’t matter how many players enter this segment, its sales volume will not be affected.

Mother Dairy is selling around 7 lakh litres of cow milk per day, largely in the Delhi-NCR market.

Mother Dairy sells cow milk at Rs 42 per litre while Haridwar-based Patanjali Ayurved has launched it at Rs 40 per litre.

Saugata Mitra, Director of Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt Ltd, said, "We welcome competition. Patanjali group’s entry will lead to an increase in the overall size of the cow milk segment. It will also help farmers and the rural economy. But, we will neither increase nor decrease our price of cow milk." 

Patanjali had last week announced its foray into the cow milk segment by launching cow milk and milk-based dairy products. The company is targeting sales of around Rs 1,000 crore by FY20.

Mitra said, "We have been serving the Delhi-NCR market for last 40 years. Our customers are loyal to the brand. The packaged cow milk market across the country is estimated to be of around 10-12 lakh litres per day. We sell around 7 lakh per day currently and this is estimated to touch 8 lakh litre per day by March next year."

Mother Dairy supplies about 36-37 lakh litres of milk per day. Out of which, 32 lakh litres per day is supplied in Delhi-NCR.

Earlier, Baba Ramdev had said, "Our milk would be cheaper than other established brands by Rs 2 at Rs 40 per litre. We are aiming to have a business of Rs 1,000 crore by next fiscal. This fiscal, we would have a business of Rs 500 crore."

Baba Ramdev led Patanjali Ayurved is clocking an online sales of up to Rs 15 crore every month and expect it to grow further every month, said a top official.

The Haridwar-based company has seen a surge in its sales last financial year and expects to perform better in the current fiscal.

Patanjali CEO Acharya Balakrishna said, "We are doing online business for Rs 10 to 15 crore, and expect it to increase further every month. We are doing good in the online sales despite the fact that we are not participating in any discounted sales.”

According to Balakrishna, who was speaking at an AIMA event, the company would continue to invest in the food processing and connect with more farmers.

"This would also create more employment opportunities," he added.

For current fiscal, Balakrishna said, "We have done better than the last year (FY 2018) and expected, even more, this fiscal. We have tried to improve our internal system last fiscal".

In January this year, Patanjali Ayurved has forayed into e-commerce for its FMCG items, partnering major players in the space, including Amazon and Flipkart.

It has got eight players on board including Grofers, Shopclues, BigBasket, 1mg, PaytmMall and Netmeds, through which its entire range of products was made available online.

JHS Svendgaard Laboratories, a manufacturer of oral care products has combined with Patanjali Ayurved to set up exclusive Patanjali stores at airports across the country.

“There is a captive audience at airports, which Patanjali will tap into through these stores,” JHS Svendgaard Managing Director Nikhil Nanda said.

Nanda further explaining the plans said the company wants to set up 100 stores over the next two years depending on availability at airports. The first such store was opened at New Delhi’s T2 terminal at Indira Gandhi International Airport.

“The intent of setting up airport stores is to provide access to international travellers, since Patanjali products are being sought across world markets,” said SK Tijarawala, spokesperson for Patanjali. He added that the company is open to entering into multiple retail partnerships with other firms as well.

The airport shops are being set up by JHS Svendgaard Retail Ventures, an arm of New Delhi-based JHS Svendgaard.

Patanjali which has registered revenue growth over 20 times to Rs 10,561 crore in FY17 from Rs 453 crore in FY12, sells an extensive range of daily-use products including shampoo, toothpaste, biscuits, noodles and packaged water.

JHS Svendgaard makes a range of toothpastes for Patanjali, Dabur and direct-selling firm Amway. It also manufactures oral care products for Elder Health Care and JL Morisons. It plans to expand beyond its core business to other personal care products and cosmetics, Nanda said.

Without divulging into the deal details Nanda said, “We are in acquisition talks with two companies which make products other than oral care. That will give us a market beyond oral care as well as a national footprint.”

JHS Svendgaard's private label toothpaste brand Aquawhite has acquired licenses for children’s characters including Pokemon and Jungle Book to extend Aquawhite to premium toothbrushes.

Yoga guru Ramdev, founder of Patanjali, invoked cow slaughter to argue against GST on ghee, the top grosser in the brand’s portfolio. Under the GST regime, the levy on ghee has been increased from 5% to 12%.

Senior executives at Patanjali said, "This will not only increase prices of one kilogram of ghee by Rs 40-50 but will also impact Patanjali’s ghee sales by around 50%."

Cow ghee contributes 15%, estimated at Rs 1,467 crore, to Patanjali’s overall revenue. Patanjali makes disinfectant from cow urine and fertilisers from dung. While it has already launched milk powder, it will soon start selling packaged cow milk.

Ramdev said, “When the livelihood of lakhs of farmers and cowherds are at stake, I am sure the government will take notice."

Tata Group, one of the country’s largest conglomerate ia likely to enter the market dominated by the likes of ITC, MTR and Patanjali, with its ready-to-eat food.

It will look at manufacturing and marketing vegetaranian, non- vegetaranian, nonalcoholic, carbonated and non-carbonated food products.

The company confirmed the development but said the project right now is in experimental stages, which may or may not evolve into a business in the future.

The Tata Industries spokesperson said, "Market opportunities we see are at the intersection of consumer preferences, especially millennial, for recipes in a convenient and quick format. The conventional domestic ready-to-eat market is too small currently to be seen as a standalone market opportunity."

The spokesperson also added, "It is premature to quantify investment on an exercise which is in the nature of an experiment. In case, hypothetically, there is a substantial market opportunity in the future which we can address, we will look at all viability parameters before making an investment decision."

Maharashtra government had allotted 230 acres in Nagpur at 75% discount to Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd in August last year to set up a food park.

The state agency, Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation (MADC), which owned the land, had also suggested extending the plot by deforesting 20 acres of Zudapi Jungle or shrub land adjoining the plot, RTI documents show.

Vishwas Patil, Managing Director, MADC, said, "The proposed Food, Agro and Forest based industrial park in Mihan is envisaged to be developed on an area of about 230 acres. This may go up to 250 acres subject to deforestation of the land parcel under Zudapi Jungle which falls under the boundary of proposed project land."

In response to the note, the MADC board of directors headed by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had said, "The Board noted the status."

Patil had written to the board, "In this chunk of 376 acres of land, about 30 acres of land on paper is described as Zudapi Jungle and 16 acres of land covers natural water channels. Considering the nature of the land, this area is suitable for a food park and agriculture and allied activities."

Patil further added, "It is only a suggestion and there has been no movement on it. The suggestion had only been made because the Zudapi Jungle is right next to the plot."

Yog guru Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda is covering almost all of India leaving its colorful footprints and inspiring people to quit artificial preservatives and to opt for natural products.

Acharya, Balkrishna, CEO of Patanjali Ayurved is said to have been exploring Nizamabad district in Telengana to look out for possibilities of setting up a turmeric processing plant, on advice of Kalvakuntla Kavitha, MLA.

Kavitha had earlier submitted a request to Baba Ramdev to start a food processing unit in Nizamabad parliamentary constituency.

Balkrishna said, "We have surveyed the surrounding areas of Armoor, Balkonda and Nandipet, we feel the atmosphere in the region is very congenial to start a plant and we are hopeful of a positive decision towards setting up of the food processing unit in the area."

Kavitha said, "The industrial policy of Telangana state (TS-IPASS) is amongst the best in the country and it takes only 15 days for the industries to get approval and Telangana State Government has assured the speedy allotments and approvals for setting up of units."

She added that "establishment of food processing plant in the region will generate employment for large number of people in the region and District Purchase Forum will be of huge advantage to the constituency."

Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has again taken Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali on a rollercoaster ride for promoting misleading advertisement campaign. The watchdogs have already ordered the company to either modify or withdraw their ad campaign for Honey, terming it as misleading and its purity claims as 'unsubstantiated'.

ASCI has taken a step after it had received complaints from Dabur India claiming that Patanjali’s Honey ad campaign is demeaning the image of its counterparts. Retaliating on ASCI's orders, Patanajali’s spokesperson stated that brand has filed a case against ASCI in court. The board doedn't has any experts on board and has no authority to take any decision in these matters. Patanjali is waiting for the next hearing in which ASCI will be taken to task.

ASCI said Patanjali's claim 'Patanjali honey - purity ki Double Guarantee' was not substantiated and was misleading. Patanjali had, in its advertisement, claimed that it conducts more than 100 tests on Patanjali Honey on the basis of parameters established by BIS and FSSAI.

A Tamil Nadu based Muslim organisation has issued a 'fatwa' against Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev's Patanjali products made by using cow urine, saying their use was considered 'haram' (forbidden) in Islam, reported PTI.

Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamat (TNTJ) said cow's urine was being used as a 'key ingredient' in cosmetics, medicines and food products of Patanjali that are available in open markets as well as online.

"According to the beliefs of Muslims, cow's urine is haram which should not be used. Therefore, TNTJ issues a fatwa that products of Patanjali are haram," said TNTJ in a release.

The fatwa was being issued to ensure that such products were not consumed by Muslims due to a lack of awareness about the ingredients of the products they consume in daily life, it added.

The controversy involving selling Patanjali noodle brand without appropriate license from the Indian food regulator, yoga guru Baba Ramdev-promoted Patanjali brand has faced heat from a consumer for an alleged worm that landed in his plate of Patanjali Atta Noodles, reported ET.

But Patanjali has rubbished the reports saying they are "fabricated". "The reports are baseless and fabricated. No formal complaint has been lodged," said S K Tijarawala Ramdev's spokesman.

The Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, last month, with revenues in excess of Rs 2,000 cr for 2014-15, was issued a showcase notice by FSSAI seeking explanation on how could the Patanjali Atta Noodles be retailed without appropriate license.

Patanjali has so far maintained that it complied with the guidelines laid down under the law. Amid the controversy, the consumer goods company was the third most advertised brand on television in India during the last week of November, behind Cadbury and Fair & Lovely.

Reportedly, Patanjali Ayurved has set aside more than Rs 300 crore for advertising and promotion and is set to step up its publicity campaign further.

Patanjali's confirmation in the noodle license case notwithstanding, the stakes are high for the brand trumpeting the swadeshi card to the hilt with netizens slamming the brand and Tweeting "They are now ready to enter the China market."

The Patanjali Yogpeeth (Turst) promoted by Baba Ramdev, yoga teacher denied having violated Food Safety and Regulatory Authority of India (FSSAI) guidelines for its Patanjali Atta Noodles, reported ET.

"We have followed all FSSAI rules and guidelines and committed no violation," said S K Tijarawala, Ramdev's spokesman.

The noodle brand made headlines and grabbed social media attention when Ramdev's pictures of scooping up noodles flashed all over early this week. However, with FSSAI chairman Ashish Bahuguna having stated that the instant noodle brand is yet to obtain mandatory approvals from the food regulator, the brand has come under scrutiny subduing the fanfare launch amid Nestle Maggi controversy and the latter's relaunch during Diwali.

Patanjali Ayurved Ltd and Patanjali Food and Herbal Park, Hardwar have obtained a relabeling license (license number 1001401200026) from FSSAI which is valid until February 20, 2019, said Patanjali Yogpeeth (Trust) in a statement.

The relabeling license permits it to get (source) noodles from companies which have FSSAI approval to manufacture noodles. "We have FSSAI license for pasta under Central category and noodles falls under pasta as per FSSAI guidelines," it added.