Future group joins hand with Ramdev’s Patanjali

Yoga guru, Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Group has collaborated with Kishore Biyani-led retail major Future Group to sell its products through its outlets. Offering products in various categories such as medicine, food items and cosmetics, the company will get exclusive right to sell products in Future outlets like Nilgiris, Food Bazaar, Food Hall and Big Bazaar.

"We are looking at business worth Rs 1,000 crore with Patanjali in 20 months, said Future Group's Kishore Biyani. Ramdev added: "We were looking for a swadeshi retail chain to sell our products and Future Group's Big Bazaar fitted the bill."

Patanjali Group is targeting revenues of about Rs 5,000-10,000 crore in the next few years. Baba Ramdev holds no stake in Patanjali Ayurveda. However, its products across 4,000 Patanjali outlets in the country are sold because of his name. On the other hand, the Future group has been at the forefront of organised retail in the country.

Market analysts say that Patanjali’s products can pose risk to competition in the FMCG space as they are priced lower than those of other players in the market. Shares of Future Group companies Future Retail, Future Consumer Enterprise and Future Lifestyle Fashion also rallied up to 13% on reports that Yoga guru Ramdev's Patanjali Group is all set to tie up with Kishore Biyani-led retail major Future Group. The Patanjali Group's flagship entity Patanjali Ayurved was co-founded by Ramdev in 2006 as a private limited company. It was eventually converted into a public limited company in 2007. It currently produces FMCG products ranging from branded basmati rice to noodles, and toothbrush to juices.

The company which produces products ranging from biscuits to facial herbs had recently announced plans to launch atta noodles for around 30% less than Maggi atta noodles’ price, thus trying to capture the Rs 3,800 crore noodles market in India where Nestle’s Maggi ruled the roost until recently.