The yoga guru hopes to turn his apparel brand global and plans to build factories in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
After storming India's noodle industry with the timely launch of Patanjali noodles, yoga guru Baba Ramdev's consumer goods empire is all set to launch an apparel brand – Paridhaan, which will include jeans and office wear.
"The idea [of the apparel brand] started with some followers asking me for Patanjali yoga wear," Ramdev reportedly told The Telegraph, "then we thought, why not a whole range of dresses – Paridhaan – for everyone? If we are fighting to bring economic independence for our country from multinationals, by promoting indigenous and natural products, we should also be in the garments market."
With Paridhaan, Ramdev's brand Patanjali will boast of over 800 products – at present, the brand includes a herbal toothpaste Dant Kanthi, a cow milk-based nougat chocolate called Super Star which looks and tastes suspiciously like a Cadbury's Five Star, ketchup, as well as a range of health and beauty supplements.
"We will make men's and women's wear," he added, "not just traditional Indian clothing but also modern wear like jeans for example."
The yoga guru, who is seen most frequently in an orange langot, explained that "just because I am a baba does not mean we cannot marry modernity with spirituality, we can make, let's say desi jeans".
In the past, Ramdev's idea of modernity has been contentious – he considers homosexuality to be a sickness that is against India's "Vedic culture", and believes both homosexuality and AIDS can be cured by yoga and meditation.
The televangelist plans to go global soon, with Patanjali factories in Bangladesh and Africa, and eventually, in Europe and the US.
"We have already set up units in Nepal and Bangladesh, our products have reached the Middle East and become popular in some of their countries, including Saudi Arabia," Ramdev told reporters in Nagpur on Sunday.
Patanjali will soon be setting up its biggest unit yet, measuring 40-lakh sq ft, at the Multi-model International Cargo Hub and Airport in Nagpur. It will be more advanced than Patanjali's first unit at Haridwar, which is among the biggest in the country.
Ramdev, who allegedly owns no shares in the business that he runs, wants to take his fast-moving consumer goods products to Pakistan and Afghanistan next. "The entry to Pakistan and Afghanistan will mostly depend on the prevailing political situation," he said, "If the situation is politically conducive, units will be set up there."
Ramdev has a cult following thanks to his yoga shows on a 24-hour spiritual television channel. His sprawling Haridwar-based Patanjali Yogpeeth campus is managed by his childhood friend Acharya Balkrishna. The campus hosts facilities for yoga, and also manufactures and sells Patanjali ayurvedic medicines and FMCG products.
Since news of Patanjali-approved desi jeans first broke, Twitter users have been in stitches.
Ramdev's business empire is already worth thousands of crores – with Paridhaan, the baba is about to embark on his very own project runway.
This article was first published on Scroll.in