Open Minds 2016: Public Square

Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna: Spiritual Entrepreneurs

Whatever one may say about Baba Ramdev’s spiritualism and politics, it is impossible to dismiss his success as an entrepreneur

Open | 06 May, 2016

There might be numerous opinions on Baba Ramdev’s spiritualism and politics, but what no one will dismiss is his success as an entrepreneur. He and Acharya Balkrishna have created an entirely new business model of using a spiritual brand to market household products. From toothpaste to tea, they have a superstore of items selling like hot cakes under the name of Patanjali. Their recent launch of instant noodles is a testament to their astute business sense. There was a time when Patanjali products were pitched as ‘ayurvedic’ but the launch of noodles shows the nature of their ambition. The annual revenues of Patanjali are around Rs 5,000 crore and they want to double it this year, becoming major competition to the likes of Dabur and Hindustan Lever.

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