Vritaanta Volume 2 Issue 3 March 2016

Pedagogy
19
Disruptor in the FMCG
sector – Patanjali
An article written by Dr. V.V.Ravi Kumar, Associate Professor at SIBM Pune
O
ver the past few decades, India as a market,
was primarily catered to in the Fast Vita” offering competition to the likes of established
delez etc. with its own health food drink brand “Power
Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector brands like “Horlicks”, “Bournvita”, “Boost” etc.
mainly by the likes of multinationals like
Patanjali is expected to post a sales of over Rs. 5000
Hindustan Unilever Ltd., P&G Ltd., Colgate, Nestle and
crore by 2017. What has been its path to success?
a handful of large Indian conglomerates like Dabur, ITC
Firstly it has extensively promoted that all its products
etc. Into this sector entered the company ‘Patanjali’
conform to the Ayurvedic traditions of India. With
promoted by Baba Ramdev a few years ago. Starting
growing health consciousness among Indians, this was
from a few herbal products, the company has grown in
the apt pitch hitting the nail on its head. Secondly, It
strength day by day to produce an assorted range of
has managed to keep its costs low by avoiding middlemen
and directly dealing with the farmers and produc-
FMCG products like toothpaste, noodles, detergent
powders and bars, biscuits just to name a few and more
ers and also keeping its production units plain and devoid
of any frills. As a result, its products are nearly 20-
importantly got a good acceptance from the target
market. Primarily positioning itself as a manufacturer of
30% cheaper than the established brands. Thirdly its
products with the ancient tradition and ingredients of
distribution channels are unique. It has an estimated
the Indian ‘Ayurveda’, Patanjali was able to take on the
5000 numbers of its branded franchise outlets. Additionally
it has tied up with modern trade outlets like
multinationals. Market analysts state that even as-
Patanjali’s toothpaste brand ‘DantKanti’ was able to
Big Bazaar, Reliance Retail, Spencer’s Retail etc. In
garner a market share of 4.5%, the market share of the
fact at some of these retail outlets, dedicated space
leader in the toothpaste category ‘Colgate’ declined by
has been allotted as “Patanjali counters”. And finally
60 basis points. Experts further state that Patanjali has
“Patanjali” has very successfully leveraged the brand
helped in growing the entire category of herbal products.
Patanjali now aims to take on multinationals in the
equity of the Baba Ramdev which in turn is built
around Yoga and Ayurveda.
Health food drink category like Glaxo Smithline, Mon-
To sum up, the growth of Patanjali as a brand in the
FMCG sector in India over the past 2-3 years has been
phenomenal and has caused a disruption in the market.
With Patanjali consistently expanding its footprint
with new products in the FMCG sector, it remains
to be seen as to how the multinationals and
other competitors react in future.
VRITAANTA March 2016