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Viveat Susan Pinto, Business\nStandard\n<\/i><\/p>\n
Viveat Susan Pinto, Business\nStandard
\n<\/i><\/p>\n
Mumbai, 26 March 2016<\/i><\/p>\n
![\"Sales](\"..\/images\/gurunomics.jpg\")
Amritha\nK is a homemaker based in the central suburb of Ghatkopar here. Like\nmost housewives, affordable grocery shopping is an important item to\nmanage. She keeps a hawk’s eye on quality but never fails to bargain\nfor that extra rupee of discount from the grocer. There’s a new\nPatanjali shop in her neighbourhood. “I’ve heard the products are of\ngood quality and reasonably priced,” she says. “But, there is such a\ncrowd there that I don’t know when I will be able to find the time to\ngo there.”
This is a dilemma that confronts a number of\nmiddle-class households in India. Yoga guru Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved\nhas presented itself as a credible alternative in fast-moving consumer\ngoods (FMCG), compelling many to switch from age-old preferences and\nbrands. “Herbal and ayurveda is one aspect of what Patanjali stands\nfor,” says Aditya Pittie, chief executive officer, Pittie Group, a\ndistributor of Patanjali products in modern and general trade. “The\nsuccess of Patanjali has to do with its positioning on health. The fact\nthat Swamiji (Baba Ramdev) is a yoga guru who has always canvassed for\ngood health is not lost on people. This is what is helping sales.” <\/p>
To\nmany, Patanjali Ayurved, which has targeted a Rs 5,000-crore turnover\nthis financial year, is symptomatic of a trend sweeping the country\ntoday: The entry of babas into business. Whether consumer goods,\nlifestyle or entertainment, spiritual gurus are no longer averse to\nstepping into business – doing it confidently and even emerging\nsuccessful. Take\n‘Sri Sri’ Ravi Shankar, for instance. A recent report by brokerage\nEdelweiss says that Sri Sri Ayurveda, ayurvedic FMCG arm of Sri Sri’s\nArt of Living Foundation, is expanding into more categories and has\nbegun to use mass media, point of sale advertising and push its digital\npresence aggressively through its app, e-store and via e-commerce\nportals. Experts\nsay the wave of babas stepping into business is linked to their larger\nand core ability to tap into a captive base of followers. It serves as\nthe first line of defence for most of them before going mass. Take\nGurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, chief of Dera Sacha Sauda, a Sirsa,\nHaryana-based organisation, estimated to have a following of 55 million\nacross India and the globe (Sri Sri is larger at 370 million and\nPatanjali has 70 million followers worldwide). “If marketed\nand distributed in an organised manner, these businesses have the\npotential to do what a Patanjali has,” Dutta says.<\/span>
A string of them<\/span>
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Additionally, Sri Sri Ayurveda is looking to ramp up\ndistribution of its products by taking it to 2,500 stores by 2017 from\n600 stores now. The next leg will see it get into modern trade as well,\ntalks for which are currently on, the report said. Future Group’s CEO\nKishore Biyani said recently he was open to distributing Sri Sri’s\nproducts.
“Sri Sri Ayurveda has a wide range of products in\npersonal care, diet supplements, food and accessories. It is planning\nto expand its presence into breakfast cereals, cookies, atta, oils,\nspices, ready-to-cook items and a range of organic staples for select\nmarkets. Though lagging Patanjali, it has the right ingredients to help\ngrow the ayurveda space, posing competition to other consumer peers,”\nanalysts Abneesh Roy, Pooja Lath and Tanmay Sharma noted in a report\ndated March 14.
While a detailed mail and calls to Sri Sri Ayurveda Trust elicited no response till the time of going to press, Devangshu\nDutta, chief executive of consulting firm Third Eyesight, says the\ncoming together of religion and commerce is not new. “If you look at\nthe West, whether it is TV evangelism or other large movements, there\nis a whole system that has developed around it. A part of this involves\nthe lifestyle of followers, which includes products and services. What\nwe are seeing is an explosion of this in India.”<\/span>
Tapping followers<\/span>
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Singh, popular in\nPunjab, Haryana and Rajasthan as a rockstar saint, burst into the\nnational consciousness last year, when he directed and starred in two\nfilms – MSG: The Messenger and MSG-2: The Messenger.
While the\nfirst instalment is estimated to have grossed Rs 126 crore in\nbox-office collections, MSG-2, according to Aditya Insaan, the Dera’s\nspokesperson, has entered the Rs 500-crore league recently. ” The\nobjective was to convey a social message in an interesting and\nentertaining format,” he says.
The response to the first two\ninstalments appears to have goaded Singh to direct and star in two more\n– MSG: Online Gurukul and MSG: The Warrior, to be released later this\nyear. Additionally, Singh has taken the MSG franchise launching a line\nof eatables, cosmetics and grocery items this January. A singer,\ncomposer and lyricist, Singh also has a line of music CDs, speeches and\ndiscourses available for sale. Further plans include taking his\nconsumer products into international markets and looking at means to\nleverage technology, Aditya Insaan said.
While revenues for both\nSri Sri and Dera Sacha Sauda are not available, there is no denying the\npotential of the business ventures promoted by these organisations,\nexperts say. <\/p>
Kishore\nBiyani, chief executive officer, Future Group, who saw the trend\ncoming, wasting no time to tie-up with Patanjali last year, says, “The\ncustomer is king. It is what he or she dictates that counts.”
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OTHER GURUS IN FMCG SPACE<\/span>
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