Patanjali riding on Ramdev’s image, not products: Adi Godrej

New Delhi: Patanjali is doing well by leveraging its founder Ramdev’s image and selling “simple products like ghee and honey”, but is still small in the value-added segment, Godrej Group Chairman Adi Godrej said on Tuesday.

“They seem to be leveraging Baba Ramdev’s image in yoga and ayurveda quite well, but most of their sales are in simple products like ghee and honey. Their sales in value-added products are still relatively small,” Godrej said during an interactive session organised by industry lobby IMC in Mumbai. He said Godrej Consumer Products competes with Patanjali only in the toilet soap segment and the Uttarakhand-based company’s presence in that category is still relatively small.

There has been a lot of concern in the FMCG industry after Patanjali’s revenues crossed Rs 5,000 crore, on the back of an increased focus on health following the ban on Maggi noodles. Some brokerages like IIFL have projected Rs 20,000 crore revenue for Patanjali by 2020, warning established FMCG players of stiff competition.

However, another brokerage JM Financial has opined that Patanjali’s brands are still an urban phenomenon among the low income groups and that it is yet to make its presence felt in the hinterlands, which still go with the established brands.

Meanwhile, Godrej also spoke out against the ban on diesel vehicles, saying we should instead work on technology to reduce pollution and arrest global warming.

“I feel we must pay a lot of attention to technology for containing climate change impacts. Improve technology, rather than just say ‘not doing this’ or ‘not doing that’,” he added.

Godrej further said that a lot of our problems are coming from climate change incidents like flash floods in the Himalayas and we need to use technology better for keeping it under check.