Patanjali Ayurved Limited (PAL), the FMCG company backed by yoga guru Baba Ramdev, continues to be a big spender on television commercials, much more than Cadburys India, ITC and Amazon Online. Recently, Ramdev revealed plans to expand PAL's footprints to Bangladesh, African countries and even Pakistan.
Read: Patanjali food park to come up in Nagpur, may create 10,000 jobs
"I (referring to Patanjali Group) have been to Nepal, will be going to Bangladesh and African countries and one day will go to Pakistan as well. We should help poor countries. If poverty of Pakistan is eradicated, that country will never be the enemy of India," the PTI quoted him as saying at the 7th Bhartiya Chhatra Sansad held at Pune.
"No MNC comes here to give you money, they have no love for India. They are here to earn profits. They bring Re 1 with them and take back Rs 100 with them. It is because of Patanjali, all these MNCs have sleepless nights," he added.
The company recently got a rating upgrade from ICRA for its Rs 300 crore fund-based facilities.
Data published on Friday by tracking agency BARC India for the week ended January 13, 2017 showed that PAL was the third big spender, behind bigger rival Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL) and Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd. The company has been ranking as one of the top five spenders on TV advertisements for many weeks now.
Explaining the rating upgrade for PAL, ICRA said that the company has been growing steadily over the past few years. Its turnover rose sharply from Rs 2,007 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 4,812 crore next financial year and was Rs 3,600 crore in the first seven months of the current fiscal (FY2017).
"The rating factors in PAL's robust revenue growth...supported by increasing brand penetration through strengthened marketing in the recent past and strong following of Baba Ramdev; continuous new product introduction giving the company one of the widest product portfolio amongst the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) players operating in India; and competitive pricing for its products," it said in its explanatory note.
Over the past few months, PAL has been on an expansive spree, setting up facilities and food parks at Sonitpur, Assam and Nagpur, Maharashtra, apart from signing an agreement to develop herbal forests in Panchkula, Haryana.
On Friday, HUL shares closed almost flat at Rs 861 apiece, while the BSE Sensex ended 274 points lower at 27,034.
