Patanjali to become a non-profit

Baba Ramdev on Tuesday said that the process is on to convert Patanjali Ayurved into a non-profit company. The company also announced plans for a big online push by inking agreements with leading e-commerce companies.

Ramdev told BusinessLine : “We are working on various legalities to convert Patanjali Ayurved into a non-profit company. Currently it operates as a limited company. We are doing this to ensure that all profits of the company are used completely for charity.”

Besides selling through its own portal, Patanjali announced partnerships with leading e-commerce companies such as BigBasket, Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm Mall, Shopclues, Grofers, netmeds and 1mg.

Addressing a press conference, Ramdev said: “We believe our partnerships with e-commerce players will help take Patanjali products to more consumers in urban and rural regions in a convenient and efficient manner. We are targeting revenues of ₹1,000 crore annually through online sales.” The company did a successful pilot in December and clocked online sales worth ₹10 crore, he added.

The e-tailers will buy Patanjali products directly from the company which, however, will ensure they are sold at MRP and not at discounted prices.

Open to loans He also ruled out divesting a stake to an international company. “We are not looking at listing as we are converting Patanjali into a non-profit company. There is no question of us partnering with international companies. However, if some international company wants to support us in terms of loans, we are open to the idea,” he added.

He added that tying up with international e-commerce platforms will only help in growing the reach of swadeshi products.

No offline impact The company also does not believe its online strategy will have an adverse impact on its offline distributors or exclusive brand store franchise partners. “We are also growing our offline distribution and have launched our distribution network system. Our products are available across 10-15 lakh kirana stores. We aim to grow the direct and indirect distribution of our products to 50 lakh stores and increase our rural coverage,” Ramdev said. The company is also in the process of recruiting about 20,000 people to strengthen it sales and marketing team.

Meanwhile, Patanjali has been entering new categories. It recently launched packaged bottled water under the Divya Jal brand and is set to enter the apparel and footwear segments. “By Diwali this year or by January next year, we will be launching the apparel and accessories range with 3,000 products which will include shoes , kidswear, sportswear, yoga wear among others under the brand Patanjali Paridhan,” Ramdev added.

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