Indian multinational conglomerate company
Patanjali Ayurved is an Indian multinational conglomerate holding company, based in Haridwar. It was founded by Ramdev and Balkrishna in 2006.[4] Its office is in Delhi, with manufacturing units and headquarters in the industrial area of Haridwar.[5] The company manufactures cosmetics, ayurvedic medicine, personal care and food products.[6]The CEO of the company, with a 94-percent share hold, is Balkrishna. Ramdev represents the company and makes strategic decisions.[7][8][9]
History
Ramdev and Balkrishna established Patanjali Ayurved in 2006.[4][10][11] Balkrishna owns 94 percent of the company, and the remainder is dispersed among other individuals.[8] In May 2021, Balkrishna had a net worth of US$2.3 billion.[12]
According to CLSA and HSBC, Patanjali was one of the fastest-growing FMCG companies in India in 2016. It was valued at ₹3,000 crore (equivalent to ₹43 billion or US$540 million in 2023).[13][14][15] Patanjali estimated its annual turnover for the 2016–17 fiscal year at ₹10,216 crore (US$1.3 billion).[16] According to a report by India Infoline (IIFL), at least 13 listed companies would be affected by Patanjali's success; they included Hindustan Unilever, Colgate, Dabur, ITC, and Godrej Consumer Products.[15]
Production
Patanjali Food and Herbal Park in Haridwar is the company's main production facility. With a production capacity of ₹35,000 crore (equivalent to ₹470 billion or US$5.9 billion in 2023), it is expanding to a capacity of ₹60,000 crore (equivalent to ₹860 billion or US$11 billion in 2023) through new production units in Noida, Nagpur, and Indore.[18][23][24]
In 2016, the Patanjali Food and Herbal Park received 35 full-time, armed Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) commandos.[25][26][27] The park will be the eighth private institute in India to be guarded by paramilitary CISF forces.[27]
Controversies
Ramdev has had 100 cases filed against him by the Government of Uttarakhand for a number of offences.[28] Of these, 81 cases against Patanjali Yogpeeth and its sister concerns in Haridwar were registered for violations of the Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms (ZALR) Act and the Indian Stamps Act.[29]
The company has been accused of misleading advertising[30][31] about its products and flimsy testing before being marketed.[32] Between April 2015 and July 2016, 33 complaints were received against 21 misleading advertisements; seventeen violated ASCI standards.[33] In September 2017, the Delhi High Court ordered the company to stop airing an advertisement for its brand of chyavanprash which disparaged a competitor's.[34] Company products, such as amla juice[35][36] and ayurvedic medicines[37] have been banned for poor quality.[36][38]
Patanjali has been cited for its working conditions; Ramdev and Balkrishna are treated as gurus whose feet must be touched each time they enter an area. Workers are paid ₹6,000 (US$75) per month, working 12-hour shifts, six days a week.[36][39] They are also discouraged from asking for a raise, with the rationale that working at the factory is considered "seva" (voluntary service) to the cause and is a payment in itself.[39][40][41] On 22 May 2021, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in Uttarakhand sent a defamation notice of ₹1,000 crore (equivalent to ₹11 billion or US$140 million in 2023) after remarks by Ramdev about doctors who practise evidence-based medicine.[42][43]
Infertility cure
One of the products manufactured by Ramdev's Divya pharmacy and sold by the Patanjali Pharmacy chain was Divya Putrajeevak Seed, described in its catalog as a natural herb which (according to the company) could treat infertility. However, doctors pointed out the misleading name of the drug: the word "putrajeevak" (lit. transl. "son's life" ). Some Patanjali Pharmacy stores sold the drug with the claim that it would ensure the birth of a boy, reportedly leading to an increase in sales.[44]
The issue was raised in the Indian Parliament in July 2015 by opposition members who accused Ramdev of "peddling a product which promised delivery of male children." The Ministry of AYUSH (which oversees the sale of alternative medicines) defended the product's name, saying that it was named after a herb.[45]
In 2016, the Uttarakhand health department said that the drug violated the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994.[46] The Maharashtra government ordered a probe of whether the drug had violated laws in 2018, and Congress leaders in the state demanded a ban on the drug.[47]
Ganges pollution
In January 2018, villages in Haridwar district complained that Patanjali's Padarth factory was polluting a Ganges channel and other local rain-fed bodies of water with surface runoff; chemicals released by the factory reportedly killed several animals in the area. The local government took no action on the factory due to Ramdev's influence, and residents of 40 villages threatened agitation.[48] The Uttarakhand Environment Conservation and Pollution Control Board ordered a clean-up of the waste flowing through the area. In the past, the board had notified Padarth about its release of untreated industrial effluent into local bodies of water. Patanjali's general manager denied the allegations, saying that the company followed established protocols.[48]
Amla juice
The Ministry of Defence canteen stores department (CSD) suspended Patanjali Ayurved's amla juice after receiving an adverse state laboratory test report on the product; the central food laboratory found the juice unfit for consumption. The CSD asked its depots to make debit notes for their existing stock, so the product could be returned.[35][36][38][49]
FSSAI notices
Patanjali introduced its instant noodles on 15 November 2015.[50][51][52] The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India notified the company that neither Patanjali nor Aayush, the brand names for which Patanjali obtained licenses, received approval for the manufacture of instant noodles.[53][54][55][56] In Rajasthan, mustard oil sold by Patanjali was found substandard by the FSSAI's Alwar laboratory.[57]
Ayush Ministry against false advertisements
Ministry of AYUSH has advised certain states to take necessary action against Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved for illegally promoting products that claimed to cure diabetes, heart and liver diseases. The Ministry has specifically sought action against the advertisements of three Patanjali products — Lipidom, Livogrit and Livamrit.[58][59][60]
Fake COVID-19 treatment
Patanjali Ayurved announced a drug named Coronil for COVID-19 treatment in June 2020, with Ramdev claiming that it cured the disease.[61][62][63] There was no clinical data to prove that the new drug was effective or even safe; this prompted a social-media backlash which questioned the role of the Ministry of AYUSH.[64] Within hours of Coronil's introduction, the ministry issued a statement denying authorisation for the new drug and asking the company to stop selling (and advertising) it until the trial results were examined by medical authorities.[65][66][67] An official from the ayurved department of the government of Uttarakhand said that the approval application for Coronil had not mentioned COVID-19.[68]
Laboratory tests showed that the drug did not contain any ingredients which could treat or prevent coronavirus infections. The Indian government allowed Patanjali Ayurved to market Coronil as an immunity booster (not a cure),[63] but the Government of Maharashtra has banned the sale of Coronil in the state. First information reports were filed in Bihar and Rajasthan against Ramdev, Balkrishna and others, accusing them of dishonesty and selling fake medicines.[69][70] Patanjali responded to the accusations, saying that they did not violate any procedures before the drug was launched.[71] A Madras High Court judge fined the company ₹1,000,000 (US$13,000) for making false claims about the drug, and Patanjali withdrew its claim that Coronil could cure COVID-19. The UK drug regulator threatened action if unauthorized products were sold in the UK.[63]
The government of Maharashtra banned Coronil in the state in June 2020, with home minister Anil Deshmukh threatening the company with legal action if they did not observe the ban.[72] The Madras High Court also barred Patanjali Ayurved from using the name "Coronil".[73][74] The court’s order came while it heard a suit filed by a Chennai-based firm which said that it had owned the trademark "Coronil" since 1993. Making an earlier interim injunction against Patanjali absolute, Madras High Court Justice C. V. Karthikeyan also imposed the fine on the company.[75][76] In his ruling, the judge observed that Patanjali had been "chasing further profits by exploiting the fear and panic among the general public by projecting a cure for the coronavirus when their 'Coronil Tablet' is not a cure".[77][73][78] Nepal and Bhutan halted the distribution of donated Coronil after orders from their governments to disclose that it was not a medicine to cure COVID-19.[79][80]
False claims of government and WHO approvals
In February 2021, The Indian Express, The Times of India, The Hindu and Livemint reported Patanjali Ayurved's claim that Coronil had been approved by the Ministry of AYUSH and certified by the World Health Organization. The reports indicated that Ramdev had released studies showing that Coronil was effective against COVID-19 at a press conference attended by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and transport minister Nitin Gadkari.[81][82][83][84] In a News Nation interview, Ramdev accused doctors of "allopathic terrorism" for doubting Coronil's effectiveness.[85] The claim was endorsed by Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sanju Verma, who called it "... a huge endorsement for Ayurveda India's homegrown StartUp ecosystem that has flourished under @narendramodi govt."[85] Verma described the approvals granted to Coronil as a "slap in the face" to the BJP's opposition.[86]
On 22 February, the WHO said that it had not "... reviewed or certified the effectiveness of any traditional medicine for the treatment #Covid19.”[87] Several news and fact-checking outlets, including The Wire, Alt News, BBC News and The Economic Times, ran fact-checking articles debunking Ramdev and Patanjali's claims; Coronil had received an export license, and had not received any approval regarding its effectiveness as a treatment against Covid-19.[88][89][85][90] Patanjali Ayurveda CEO Balkrishna admitted on Twitter that the approval for Coronil had not come from the WHO or the Ministry of AYUSH (as they had claimed), but had been granted by the Drugs Controller General of India for export – not as a certification of effectiveness.[85][88]
Taking control over Dalit's lands
In August 2022, Newslaundry published a report alleging that Patanjali took control of Dalit's lands for cow shelter and herb farms in Teliwala village, Uttarkhand through force and circumvention of laws, making people there landless.[91] With their land in control of Patanjali, Dalits have no choice other than working for the company or migrating elsewhere for finding employment.
Accusations of using fish bones in veg product
In May 2023, a Delhi based law firm issued a legal notice to Patanjali Ayurved accusing the company of using ‘cuttlefish bones’ in dental care product, branding non-veg product as vegetarian in violation of the law.[92]
Misleading advertising
In November 2023, the Supreme Court of India warned Patanjanli Ayurved of a Rs 1 crore fine for misleading advertisement, due to Patanjali's claims of its products as permanent cure for some ailments without evidence and for dismissing or denigrating medical science.[93]
₹30,000 crore (US$4.02 billion)
(FY2021)