THE BABA AND HIS BIG BREAKTHROUGH BRAND

By no measure, is Patanjali a small Ayurveda brand. It’s a home-grown, full-fledged desi FMCG behemoth. And the man behind the success is a rustic yogi, not a B-school educated numbercrunching master tactician.

In just 10 years, Patanjali has grown to challenging the likes of Unilever, Colgate, P&G, Dabur and Godrej, across categories. In doing so, it has created its own rules and re-written others — especially around branding and distribution. In fact, after Patanjali, Hindustan Unilever, India’s largest consumer goods company, was compelled to launch a raft of Ayurvedic personal care products.

According to a survey by ValueNotes, Baba Ramdev’s huge fan base built around the themes of yoga, health and swadeshi were early adopters of his products, and this allowed Patanjali to experiment with a wide range of products. “They became unpaid marketeers. This helped Patanjali reach customers across India,” said an Assocham survey. It continued: “All products sell under a single brand name, so more buck for brandbuilding expenses. The brand has grown so much that mainstream retailers want to get onto the Patanjali bandwagon. Some are even ready to have separate sections dedicated to Patanjali. Even Hindustan Uniilever doesn’t have this kind of muscle.” Reports claim Patanjali crossed `5,000 crore in 2016. And now, Baba Ramdev wants to go global. He is already exporting — targeting Indians in the UK, US, Canada and Mauritius. Patanjali has even received offers of distribution from businessmen and retailers in the UAE, Iran and Azerbaijan.