Patanjali’s Acharya Balkrishna delivered a keynote address that covered the tenets of creating a global brand out of the ethos of Bharat…
Acharya Balkrishna, managing director, Patanjali Ayurved Limited, in his keynote address at the inaugural Brand Bharat Summit organised by ETBrandEquity.com spoke about what it takes to create a global brand out of Bharat.
He began by defining what a Bharat Brand is. “All start-ups, or any company that is Indian in its ethos, in its origins, in its personality, is a Bharat Brand. Any brand that protects and propagates Indian-ness is a Bharat Brand,” he explained. He went on to add that the concept of Bharat is not limited to geography or materialistic things, but is defined by the values, principles, and ideals.
Giving an example from the journey of Patanjali, Balkrishna offered that the company did not only sell products from India, but presented Indian culture and history on the global stage. It introduced the concepts and tenets of yoga and ayurveda to global consumers. This was in different ways. For example, it emphasised on the use of neem in toothpaste and explained the history and medical benefits behind the same through its products.
“We faced a lot of flak for using ingredients like salt and turmeric in our products, but eventually, the companies that initially objected, also started marketing their wares with the same ingredients,” he said.
He added that the strength for brands born in Bharat is the diversity it offers in terms of resources. For Patanjali, this strength comes in the form of the biodiversity offered by the country. This diversity holds potential to create more Bharat Brands in spaces like culture and tourism, he explained. Elaborating further, Balkrishna gave the example of wellness tourism which offers the perfect opportunity to take Indian values, culture, and knowledge to the global consumers.
“Here too, we at Patanjali have made inroads. Currently, tourists from more than 70 countries visit Patanjali (properties) seeking wellness benefits that we have to offer. You can consider our endeavour as a pilot or a model which can be dapted to a variety of enterprises across the country,” he added.
Another way to take Bharat brands to the world is identifying sectors in demand, where India can make an impact. According to Balkrishna food processing is one such sector where India is yet to make a surge of progress. “If we pay attention to the sector, and make efforts to compete at the global stage, we can make a huge difference,” he said.
He observed that India’s strength also lies in its youth population given it one of the largest and youngest workforces in the world. “Our journey at Patanjali has been guided by the thought ‘how do we make India progress’ in addition to how we can grow as a company. If the large youth population of the country also adopts this ideology, there is nothing stopping Bharat Brands from taking on the world,” he concluded. Read More