Patanjali beats Cadbury, Parle as top TV advertiser

Yoga guru Baba Ramadev's Patanjali Ayurved has become India's biggest fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) advertiser from 23 to 29 January, data from Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) has revealed.

The industry body, which compiles TV viewership data, reported that the "swadeshi" company's advertisements played 17,676 times during the week, beating large brands like Cadbury, Parle, Horlicks and Pond's by a huge margin.

The company's TVC count climbed up from sixth to number one, as per the week prior to the latest release data.

Patanjali hopes to earn Rs5,000-10,000 crore in profits in the next five to seven years, which it says will all be diverted to non-profitable causes.

For advertising purposes, the company has picked seven products out of its 30-product portfolio. These are ghee (its fastest moving product), honey, dental cream, aloe vera cream, shampoo, biscuits and noodles.

The company is planning to add seven more products to the mix, and has earmarked Rs300 crore for ad spends.

At January-end, the advertising industry watchdog Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) found the company's hair oil product ads to be misleading as they failed to provide any clinical evidence for the claims they made in the ad campaign.

In November 2015, Ramdev had indicated that the company will invest Rs1,000 crore in 2016 on expansion and plans to sharpen its focus on e-commerce and exports. Since then, the company has been in the top ten list of TVC count by BARC.

Patanjali reported a sales turnover of Rs2,000 crore in the last fiscal and expects to reach Rs5,000 crore in FY15-16.