Patanjali’s CEO Acharya Balkrishna says,

“It is not averse to working with multinationals as long as it doesn’t clash’ with its values.”

We have been watching Baba Ramdev from years promoting his ‘swadesi’ movement and asking to condemn the usage of foreign products and services. But as per a few media reports, it seems like Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved Ltd (PAL) is now open to 4 global deals.

During an interview with The Economic Times, the CEO of Patanjali, Acharya Balkrishna said that

“It is not averse to work with MNCs as long as it doesn’t clash with its values.”

According to a news report, Balkrishna has refused to name the MNCs they are considering for deals for now.

A little time back, there were reports that French luxury group Louis Vuitton was interested in investing $500 million in Patanjali which is almost half of its remaining Asia fund in it.

“We would love to work with him if we can find a model,”

Ravi Thakran, managing partner, L Catterton Asia said to The Economic Times.

By considering these MNC deals, Baba Ramdev seems to be contradicting his own statement in which he compared MNCs to the erstwhile East India Company that entered the country with the purpose of loot. It was him who had said that he wants to make India free from the MNCs.

In 2017, while he was speaking at a function to mark the birth anniversary of Yogi Bharat Bhushan, Baba Ramdev said that the Multinational companies in India were not working for the country’s development; rather their only objective was to “loot” India.

In terms of sales, yoga guru and entrepreneur Baba Ramdev were riding high, 3 years ago.

In fiscal 2019, PAL’s revenues were Rs 8,135 crore compared to rapid upsurge in turnover from around Rs 2,000 crore in 2014 to Rs 10,000 crore in 2017. The revenues were flat in the year 2018.

“Turnover figures will force multinational companies to go for kapalbhati,”

Ramdev announced in 2017, in reference to a yoga breathing exercise, promising that the sales would more than double to 200 billion rupees ($2.84 billion) in the year to March 2018.

But instead, Patanjali’s sales plunged by 10% to 81 billion rupees, according to its annual financial report. And in the last fiscal year, it likely declined further, says company sources and analysts.