Watch out KFC, McDonald’s! Baba Ramdev all set to launch fast food chain

May 9, 2017

New Delhi, May 9: Baba Ramdev, founder and promoter of the home-grown FMCG company, Patanjali Ayurveda, is moving ever farther from his core competency: yoga. He is setting up a restaurant chain.

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He said he would be positioning his restaurant chain in the fast food space. The menu would consist of 400 traditional vegetarian recipes.

Baba Ramdev's Patanjali group which specializes in herbal juice and medicines last year registered a revenue of Rs 10,000 crore. That's the kind of growth in ten years that an IT company in the Silicon Valley would envy. Ramdev's next foray is likely to take on multinational food chains like KFC, MacDonald's and Subway.

Across a resurgent Hindu India, with cattle getting holier and vegetarianism almost taking on a patriotic dimension, the new chain of restaurants that Ramdev is proposing just might become yet another money spinner.

Recently at a public meeting Ramdev said half in jest and half in earnest: "We will give customers a lot to choose from. There is nothing tastier and healthier than vegetarian Indian food. When we get these recipes together, all these multinationals restaurants serving chicken or mutton will have a hard time countering us."

As it is, nearly 60-70 percent of all fast food items like pizzas and burgers sold in India are vegetarian even in the multi-national chain of restaurants, Acharya Balkrishna, CEO, and Ramdev's partner, said.

Ramdev did not fail to put in a nationalistic angle to his project. He said McDonald's, KFC and Subway were like the East India Company. "They are here to loot. We will free India from food colonialism." He said he would "drive the foreign food chains way from Indian shores in five years." Clearly, food has become fodder for a kind of Independence movement.

In the process, Ramdev said, his people would establish direct contact with the farmers for fresh produce."In the next five years, Patanjali would educate the farmers about the latest techniques in farming to boost production. We will also offer decent prices for the produce." He said his food chain will benefit both farmers and customers.

Baba Ramdev took yoga to the masses, and turned his popularity into a brand that people have come to trust. His businesses have made life tough for established giants like Nestle, Unilever and Colgate.

The Haridwar-based FMCG firm has registered a turnover of Rs 10,561 crore in 2016-17, and Ramdev wants to double that in the coming year.

The company is in the process of setting up mega production units at several places, including Noida, Nagpur, and Indore, which would take its production capacity to Rs 60,000 crore, from the existing Rs 35,000 crore.

The firm is also planning a push for exports after its food park in Nagpur is commissioned.

For Ramdev, the restaurant business can be another way to get more customers for Patanjali products. For brand awareness, he uses Aastha, a spiritual channel, to promote the products along with his yoga lessons.

Market watchers are skeptical on Patanjali's foray into the restaurant business. "Serving a packaged product is one business and running a services business is another," said a business analyst. But Ramdev has been adept at turning predictions wrong.

Meanwhile, a restaurant in Chandigarh, Postik, has been using Patanjali products to make vegetarian and satvik snacks. The walls of the restaurant are lined with pictures of Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna. The restaurant carries the logo of Patanjali on its menu which also lists health tips for its customers as a take-home message. Reportedly Postik owners were the ones who approached Ramdev with the proposal of a food chain.

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May 1,2024

Hassan MP and Lok Sabha election candidate of the BJP-JD(S) alliance Prajwal Revanna, who is facing an inquiry over the alleged sexual abuse of several women, said the truth will prevail.

The MP, who left the country as soon as the election to his constituency ended, has also sought seven days' time to appear before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Karnataka government to inquire into the huge cache of about 3,000 explicit videos and photos allegedly pertaining to him, which have gone viral on social media.

“As I am not in Bangalore to attend the enquiry, I have communicated to CID Bangalore through my advocate. Truth will prevail soon,” Prajwal, grandson of former prime minister and JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda, said in a post on X.

A case has been registered against MLA and former minister H D Revanna and his son Prajwal at Holenarasipura on a complaint lodged by their former cook and relative for allegedly sexually harassing her.

She also alleged that Prajwal made video calls to her daughter and spoke in an objectionable manner, which forced her to block him.

The MP who is seeking re-election from Hassan on a JD(S) ticket, shared a letter by his lawyer Arun G to the Deputy Superintendent of Police of the SIT, in which he has sought seven days' time to appear before the official because he is abroad.

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News Network
May 1,2024

Bengaluru: A red alert denoting severe heat wave has been issued for six districts of Karnataka by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), as temperatures are likely to cross 46 degrees Celsius.

Bagalkote, Belagavi, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri and Koppal districts will see temperatures ranging from 40 to 46 degrees Celsius between May 1 and May 9, according to KSNDMC.

The monitoring centre also pointed out that when comparing the maximum temperature recorded in Karnataka in the past seven years – between 2017 and 2024 – April 30, 2024 recorded the highest, 45.6 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, in a statement released by the India Meteorological Department in Bengaluru, the trough/wind discontinuity from southeast Madhya Pradesh to South Interior Karnataka (SIK), across Vidarbha, Marathawada and North Interior Karnataka (NIK) extending up to 1.5km above mean sea level persists.

But as per IMD, the department issued a severe heat (red) alert only when the actual maximum temperature crosses 47 degrees Celsius.

The maximum temperatures are likely to continue and also be around 40 to 46 degrees Celsius over parts of NIK districts, such as Raichur, Kalaburgi, Yadgir, Bellary and Vijayapura districts till May 6, the natural disaster management centre said on social media platform X.

The remaining NIK districts, most of the SIK districts and Dakshina Kannada district are likely to experience maximum temperature between 40 and 44 degrees Celsius, it added.

Parts of Kodagu, Udupi, Hassan, Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru and parts of Uttara Kannada districts are likely to experience between 33 and 40 degrees Celsius till May 6, according to the centre.

From May 7, maximum temperatures are likely to come down by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius across the state, according to KSNDMC.

Meanwhile, as per realised rainfall across the state data by KSNDMC, while isolated rains were observed in six districts -- Haveri, Dharwad, Gadag, Vijayapura, Shivamogga and Uttara Kannada -- dry/negligible rains were received in 25 districts, including Bengaluru rural and urban on April 30.

Maximum rainfall of 35mm was recorded at Bhogavi in Haveri district.

As per the cumulative date of rainfall from January 1 to April 30, only coastal Karnataka recorded an excess of 59% rainfall from usual, while the rest of Karnataka had deficit rainfall ranging from 13% to 80%, said a press release by KSNDMC, which compiles the data from telemetric rain gauge locations established by it across the state.

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News Network
April 28,2024

Prajwal.jpg

Bengaluru: JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Sunday said he would like to wait for the facts to come out of the investigation into an alleged sex scandal involving his nephew and Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, but asserted that there is no question of forgiving anyone who has committed a crime as per law.

The former chief minister said he has nothing to do with Prajwal Revanna reportedly leaving the country, and it is the responsibility of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to get him back if required.

The 33-year-old Prajwal Revanna is the son of former prime minister and JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda's elder son H D Revanna, who is an MLA and former minister.

Some explicit video clips allegedly involving Prajwal Revanna had started making the rounds in Hassan in recent days.

Prajwal Revanna is the BJP-JD(S) alliance's candidate from Hassan, which went to polls on Friday.

Kumaraswamy said, "I have noticed that the chief minister has ordered an SIT probe. Whether it is me or Deve Gowda (his father), we have always conducted ourselves respectfully towards women and have responded positively when anyone came with any sufferings. We have tried to address them."

Speaking to reporters here, he said, "The Hassan related issue that started during elections, let the facts come out through a probe. Whoever it is, who has committed the mistake as per the law of the land...there is no question of forgiving anyone who has committed the mistake. So let the facts come out from the probe, after that I will react."

To a question on Prajwal Revanna going to a foreign country, Kumaraswamy said, "It is not related to me. SIT probe has been ordered, officials have been put to work. If he has gone to a foreign country, getting him back is their responsibility. What should I say, if I'm asked. They (SIT) will get him, don't worry."

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced the decision to constitute a SIT to probe the alleged sex scandal involving the MP.

Meanwhile, the police have information that Prajwal has left the country, according to a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s office.

"Prajwal Revanna’s explicit video clips are being circulated in Hassan and it appears prime facie that women were sexually assaulted,' the statement said, adding that the government decided to form an SIT based on a petition by the chief of the Karnataka State Commission for Women.

The Commission's chairperson Dr Nagalakshmi Chaudhary on Thursday wrote to Siddaramaiah and state police chief Alok Mohan, seeking a probe into the videos that are in circulation in Hassan.

Prajwal has through his election agent lodged a complaint with the authorities that the videos are "doctored" and being circulated to tarnish his image ahead of elections.

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