Ramdev said, his Patanjali group has acquired 450 acres of land in Noida by paying Rs 400 crore. “It was not a gift given to a beggar. (PTI)

Riding high on the popularity of desi products, Yoga guru Swami Ramdev said by 2018-19, his fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, Patanjali, will overtake Unilever and others and by 2020-21 Patanjali would become the world’s largest FMCG brand. “In the next two years, Patanjali will create Rs 1 lakh crore production capacity. Presently our Haridwar facility has Rs 15,000 crore production capacity and the Tezpur facility has Rs 25,000 crore capacity. Our new facilities are coming up in Noida, Nagpur, Indore and Andhra Pradesh. We have 50 small units where we make edible oils, salt, etc. Even if we attain Rs 1 lakh crore production capacity, it will be hardly 10 per cent of the total market size of Rs 10 lakh crore,” Ramdev told India TV’s Rajat Sharma in the TV show Aap Ki Adalat.

The show will be telecast on Saturday night, according to a press release issued by the channel.”By 2018-19, Patanjali will overtake Unilever and others as the topmost brand, and by 2020-21 Patanjali plans to become the world’s largest FMCG brand,” he added. He said he has already prepared a plan of succession for his Rs 10,000 crore Patanjali group, saying that his “successor” will be a team of nearly 500 sadhus trained by him. The yoga guru, who along with his associate Acharya Balkrishna, has created the massive FMCG group Patanjali within a short span of time, outlined his future plans, while indicating that his group would soon start selling jeans, trousers, kurtas, shirts, suitings, sportswear and yoga wear.

Ramdev also appealed to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to lower the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on cow ghee and butter, that has been raised from 5 per cent to 12 per cent. He called for boycott of Chinese and foreign goods, but pushed for export of Indian goods to China and other countries in the same vein. “The Chinese control almost 50 to 70 per cent of the world market. The Chinese control nearly Rs 20 lakh crore market in India. What is the harm if we try to export our goods to China?” Ramdev, however, made it clear that the Patanjali group would not try to exploit poor countries. “Whether it is Bangladesh, Nepal, even Pakistan or African countries, whatever profits we will earn, we will not repatriate to India, we will re-invest the money there.”

The yoga guru denied charges that he was getting favours for his group due to his “political connections”. “I can say with authority that I have not taken a single paisa worth advantage from the Modi government. Nor did I try to obstruct the government’s work. Had I wanted, I could have achieved any dream a politician normally seeks. But for me, politics is not a profession, it’s a mission. I intervened in politics due to exigency (Aaapad dharma) only when I found that bad people (burey log) should not rule any more. I never used, nor will I ever use, my political connections for my company.”

Ramdev said, his Patanjali group has acquired 450 acres of land in Noida by paying Rs 400 crore. “It was not a gift given to a beggar. I paid 100 per cent for whatever land I bought. In Nagpur, our group paid Rs 25 lakh for setting up an orange juice extraction plant. The government orange juice extraction plant had stopped working. I challenge Unilever, Nestle and others. I am ready to give Rs 12 lakh subsidy, come and set up a plant there.”

The Aap Ki Adalat show with Swami Ramdev was organised at the AIMA convention, and was attended by corporate bigwigs, CEOs of Indian and multinational companies and management experts.