Patanjali Ayurved is eyeing over Rs.10,000 crore turnover in 2016-17, more than doubling it from the Rs.5,000 crore in the last fiscal, yoga guru Ramdev, its founder, said here on Tuesday.
"We are targeting to cross Rs.10,000 crore turnover in the current fiscal from Rs.5,000 crore in 2015-16," Ramdev told reporters at a press meet.
"The profit is minimal and would be around 8-10 percent," said managing director Acharya Balkrishna.
He also said the company will be investing Rs.1,000 crore this year in setting up five to six new processing units of its various products in different states.
"We will set up five to six processing units in Assam, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Out of these, four will be fully functional within this year," Balkrishna said.
"The water requirement by our processing units is very less, and the water can be recycled and used again. So our processing units in areas where there is water scarcity will be beneficial for farmers," he said.
Ramdev said they currently take 1,000 tonnes of agricultural produce like wheat, peas, carrot, etc. from farmers every day. "Our target is to increase it to 10,000 tonnes per day. Our amla and aloe vera produce is 500 tonnes per day, which we want to increase to 1,000 tonnes per day," he said.
The Ayurveda-based FMCG company that has been growing exponentially in the last four years, plans to foray into exports and e-commerce this year.
"E-commerce tie-ups with major players is on the cards this year. On the export front, we are expecting 5-10 percent revenues this year. We will be exporting honey and cosmetics to 10-12 countries, including US, Britain, Canada, African and Arab countries," Balkrishna said.
Patanjali will also be expanding into new consumer lines like dairy products, and even yoga clothing.
"Patanjali curd, cheese and other dairy products will soon be in the market," Ramdev said while Balkrishna added that clothing made of natural fibres like jute is also on the anvil.
On being asked about reports of Patanjali cutting into the market share of multinational FMCG companies, Ramdev said: "We have created our own market. We have not eaten into other companies' share."
"We are totally vegetarian," the yoga guru said, but added that Patanjali will overtake brands like Colgate, Nestle and Pantene in terms of sale this year. "Our products like 'dant kanti', 'kesh kanti' and ghee are doing very well. We rely on quality, purity and low prices. We will be able to compete with Unilever in another 1-2 year," he added.
Asked the reason how Patanjali Ayurved is managing to grow exponentially at a time when other FMCG companies are fighting for market share, Ramdev said: "We do not have paid brand ambassadors. Wrestler Sushil Kumar, who features in Patanjali's ghee add, did the advertisement for free. I am brand ambassador of the company for free."
Patnajali intends to have 4,000 distributors, 10,000 Patanjali stores and 100 mega stores in the country this year.
The company's plans also include investing Rs.150 crore for setting up of an ayurveda clinical laboratory for animal and human trials, Balkrishna said.
The 1,200 Patanjali clinics across the country will be linked to an online system to be able to collate the patient data effectively, which can be used for research, he said.
Another Rs.500 crore will be invested on research and improvement of the indigenous breeds of cows in the country, he said.
The company's bigger plans include foraying into the education sector with 500 schools and a university.
--IANS
mm-ag/vd/dg
