Yoga has been a part of the Indian culture since time immemorial. People have been mesmerised by the benefits of yoga to cure so many human ailments with just practising it with devotion. Yoga, as a business opportunity, has been doing really well as people are getting more interested towards it. Its industry is also evolving as various new versions of yoga can be witnessed establishing a market of their own. In a conversation at Franchise India 2017 with Mr Akshar, Founder, Chairman and Course Director, Akshar Yoga, he tells us a lot about his brand and the plans ahead.
Kindly give us a brief about your brand.
We are Akshar Yoga and our whole brand aims to work on professionalism and customisation of the yoga industry. We want to bring structure to this industry so we take the support of our other hands like Punya Organic which deals in organic products, Brhajaga which produces ghee, chayavanprash etc. We also have health and beauty in which we have natural products and we have also created new forms of yoga like flying yoga, the aerial yoga and the Akshar wheel yoga.
What trends can you see emerging in the Yoga industry?
New innovations are happening in the yoga industry and our goal and target here is to maintain the ethics of the business here. So, we are trying to bring forms but also at the same time trying o make the base strong. There are lots of new things coming in yoga.
How important is franchising today for a brand to expand?
I think as the name says franchise, it gives options for multiple people to think and to associate with different brands, just like we connect with health, fitness and wellness. So, the people those who are in this industry, they do not have to do a lot in opening a new school as they can take our school structure. Since we have a number of schools, we can associate with them. So, Franchise India gives as good platform to have that community where we can share and discuss our ideas.
Kindly tell us about your franchise models on offer and share its specifications.
For Akshar Yoga, we are giving our master franchise and we are also ready to give our unit franchise. The unit franchise goes from 2000 sq. ft. to 4000 sq.ft. and there we have two levels- A++ and A+. For the A++ module, the franchise fee is Rs. 15 lakhs and total investment is close to Rs. 60 Lakhs for the whole project. For the A+ module, the franchise fee is Rs 10 Lakhs and total investment is somewhere like Rs 40 Lakhs. The master franchise is for Rs 1 crore.
What are your expansion plans for the brand?
So, now from 2018 onwards we are planning to expand nationally and globally. We’ve got very good responses from Hungary, Israel, Japan, Australia and France. We are seeing good potential in yoga.
How has been your experience at the Delhi Show 2017 so far?
The experience has been good so far and I see professionalism in people. That is what I, as an individual, appreciate as everything is being done very clearly. People those who are coming inside are clear about what they are looking for. We do not have a rough crowd but a crowd of balanced mind people those who can understand how a business can grow. All are supporting each other and people those who are coming to us to inquire about our franchise are very supportive and positive.
