Patanjali looks East, plans to enter Chinese market

Patanjali Ayurved, the homegrown FMCG band, which successfully competed with multinationals like Nestle, HUL and Colgate Palmolive in the domestic market, is now looking east, planning to sell its products across east and south-east Asian countries, including Bangladesh, Myanmar and China.

Yoga guru Ramdev-promoted Patanjali brand, after flooding the local market with a wide range of consumer products and fending-off aggressive marketing tactics by multinational FMCG giants, is now looking to go international with his brand.

Patnajali is reported to be looking to set up a production unit in Sahibganj in Jharkhand, where the central government is also looking to build a multi-modal hub with direct connectivity.

A report in the Mint said Patanjali is in talks with the Inland Waterways Authority of India and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari to use the Sahibganj multi-modal terminal for export of its products to East Asian countries like China, Myanmar, Bangladesh.

It will serve both the company as well as the government's policy initiatives. Using the inland waterways will help the company save on its logistic costs for exports serve the East Asian market by competing on price and quality.

It is also in line with the government's Act East Policy, which talks about the importance of India's ties with the neighbouring countries in the Asia- Pacific, Patanjali is looking to expand its business overseas.

Since the Ganga flows through Sahibganj in Jharkhand, it will give Patanjali direct access to Bangladesh and Myanmar. With the multi-model hub coming up in Sahibaganj, it would become a ''strategic location'' for industrial development, say officials.

With China's exports slowing down, India hopes to boot its own exports to that country. While India still nurses a huge trade deficit with China, the country has great potential to emerge as a regional hub for labour-intensive industries, according to Chinese newspaper Global Times.

According to the Patanjali spokesperson, the company has, in the recent past, received offers from countries like the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Azerbaijan to retail its products in those markets although it has not yet followed these up.

Ramdev has consistently maintained his stance that India could improve its ties with China through yoga. Patanjali has also started two new production units in Assam which will focus on catering to the north-eastern part of India and also to Bhutan which is India's neighbour. Patanajali has a production partner in Nepal from whom it sources herbs for its some herbal products.

In April 2016, Acharya Balkrishna, managing director of Patanjali Ayurved, said at a press conference that the company will spend more than Rs1,000 crore to set up new production units and Rs150 crore on a research and development facility.

Patanjali earned Rs5,000 crore in 2016 and have hopes of doubling that this year. It is also looking to expand its business in other parts of country like Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh apart from Uttarakhand, where they already have a factory in place, which was started 10 years ago.