Patanjali Ayurved’s MD Acharya Balkrishna was in New Delhi Friday for an official tour. On the sidelines of his trip, he spoke exclusively to Orissa POST regarding the future plans of his venture in Orissa and touched upon other related issues.
Excerpts from the interview:
* How much involvement Patanjali has now with Orissa in terms of their business?
* In Orissa, we are in touch with farmers for herbal cultivation. We’re also working out for plans on crop production in the state. Many from the state have approached us for installing processing unit in Orissa but there has not been any development on the matter at the government level. Orissa is enriched with natural resources. If we can work with these resources it can help in boosting the sector in the state.
* Is there any investment plan from your venture in Orissa?
* We have planned an extraction plant at Chhattisgarh which can pave way for boosting the processing of the raw materials acquired from Orissa. After the commissioning of the extraction plait we are likely to procure more raw materials from the state and can directly work with the fanners at cluster levels and work towards contract farming.
* What are the sought after raw materials from Orissa which you are targeting for procurement?
* From Orissa currently we are growing some medicinal herbs. There are many herbs which are grown in the state with lesser hassles. We are also mulling on procuring vegetables and fruits from the state and bring them by processing it.
* What are your views on the impact of GST on the food processing sector?
? Whenever something new starts some initial hurdles normally crop up. But we should be happy as this can lead to an opening of a door of solution to many problems. Such a reform was indeed bound to happen and is in the favour of the county.
* What about your proposed textile project?
* It is likely to commence by March-April next year. The Research and Development work is done from our side. Our teams are working uninterrupted on the project to launch it sooner. In this sector we are aiming more at cotton and planning to offer it to customers at affordable prices.
* You often talk about revenue, but can you tell us how much profit you are making?
* We are making around 10 per cent profits on our products on an average.
* There was much speculation about Patanjali’s food chain. Any development on that front?
* We’ve planned to start it on a pilot basis, but now we have dropped the idea.
MANISH KUMAR, OP
