Rajasthan cops charge Ramdev, Patanjali MD with cheating for Covid-19 drug

The Rajasthan Police on Saturday lodged an FIR against yoga guru Ramdev for allegedly launching an Ayurvedic drug for treating Covid-19 without regulatory approval, a senior officer said.
Four others MD of Ramdev-promoted Patanjali Ayurved Acharya Balkrishna; Director of National Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (NIMS), Jaipur, B S Tomar; his son Anurag Tomar; and senior scientist Anurag Varshney have also been named in the FIR, he said.

Haridwar-based Patanjali Ayurved on Tuesday launched "Coronil", claiming it can cure COVID-19. It said the drug, when taken with another Patanjali product, had cured all coronavirus positive patients who took part in a trial within seven days.
The trial, it said, was conducted in association with the NIMS, a Jaipur-based private institute.
Hours after the launch of the drug, the AYUSH ministry asked Patanjali Ayurved to provide details on the research leading up to it and its composition, telling the company to stop advertising it till the issue is examined.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Ashok Gupta said a case has been registered against Ramdev and four others at the Jyoti Nagar police station in Jaipur on the basis of a complaint lodged by an advocate, Balram Jakhad.
He said multiple complaints were received against Ramdev at various police stations.
The five have been booked under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, according to police.
Complainant Jakhad said a press conference was organised in Haridwar wherein the accused claimed to have developed a medicine to treat coronavirus. The medicine has not been approved by the AYUSH ministry.
On Thursday, Patanjali Ayurved had claimed that it had complied with all legalities.
The licence for the drug was obtained on the basis of the traditional knowledge and experience related to the medicinal virtues of Ashwagandha, Giloy and Tulsi, Patanjali spokesperson S K Tijarawala had said.
No illegal claim has been made on the label of the medicine, he had said.

Patanjali gets one more week to complete Rs 4,350-cr Ruchi Soya deal

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Tuesday granted another extension, of one week, to Baba Ramdev-led PatanjaliAyurved for completion of Rs 4,350-crore resolution plan to acquire debt-ridden edible oil firm Ruchi Soya.
A three-member NCLAT bench headed by Chairperson Justice S J Mukhopadhaya extended the deadline to December 23.

Earlier, on November 20, the appellate tribunal had extended the deadline till December 16 for implementation of the resolution plan for Ruchi Soya. The original deadline for implementation of the resolution plan was November 21.
The NCLAT's order came over an application moved by the Haridwar-based firm seeking extension of timeline.
However, the appellate tribunal also granted liberty to the lenders of debt-ridden Ruchi Soya to approach it in case Patanjali fails to make the promised payment within the stipulated time-frame.
Senior Advocate A S Chandhiok, appearing on behalf of Patanjali in the NCLAT, said that a one-week's extension would suffice the company to implement the plan, as the firm has already "signed agreements" with the lenders.
In September this year, Patanjali Ayurved had received approval of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to acquire Ruchi Soya, which went into an insolvency in December 2017.
The NCLT had admitted the insolvency plea filed by two lead financial creditors Standard Chartered Bank and DBS Bank. However, later the Singapore-based DBS Bank became dissenting creditor and approached the NCLAT challenging the distribution of the proceeds from the bid submitted by Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurveda.
Ruchi Soya informed the tribunal that resolution applicant Patanjali group will infuse Rs 204.75 crore as equity and Rs 3,233.36 crore as debt.
The amount will be infused in special purpose vehicle (SPV) 'Patanjali Consortium Adhigrahan Pvt Ltd', which will be later amalgamated with Ruchi Soya.
Another Rs 900 crore will be infused by the Patanjali group through subscription of non-convertible debentures and preference shares in the SPV. It will also provide a credit guarantee of nearly Rs 12 crore.
On April 30 this year, a committee of creditors had approved Patanjali group's Rs 4,350 crore resolution plan to take over Ruchi Soya. Lenders will have to take a haircut of around 60 per cent.

Patanjali secures Rs 3,200 cr loan from SBI, other banks to buy Ruchi Soya

Baba Ramdev-led PatanjaliAyurved on Friday said it has already tied up loan worth Rs 3,200 crore from a consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India to fund its acquisition of Ruchi Soya through insolvency process.
In September, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the resolution plan of Patanjali Ayurved to acquire debt-laden Ruchi Soya.

"The company has already secured required total debt from a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India," Patanjali Ayurved Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna said in a statement.
Patanjali also said it has got loans of Rs 1,200 crore from SBI, Rs 700 crore from Punjab National Bank, Rs 600 crore from Union Bank of India, Rs 400 crore from Syndicate Bank and Rs 300 crore from Allahabad Bank.
Ruchi Soya went into the insolvency in December 2017.
NCLT had admitted the insolvency plea filed by two lead financial creditors Standard Chartered Bank and DBS Bank. However, later, Singapore-based DBS Bank became dissenting creditor and approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal challenging the distribution of proceeds from the bid submitted by Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurveda.
Ruchi Soya told the NCLT that resolution applicant Patanjali group will infuse Rs 204.75 crore as equity and Rs 3,233.36 crore as debt.
The amounts will be infused into a special purpose vehicle (SPV), Patanjali Consortium Adhigrahan Pvt Ltd, which will be later amalgamated with Ruchi Soya.
Another Rs 900 crore will be infused by the Patanjali group through subscription of non-convertible debentures and preference shares in the SPV. It will also provide a credit guarantee of nearly Rs 12 crore.
On April 30 this year, a committee of creditors had approved Patanjali group's Rs 4,350 crore resolution plan to take over Ruchi Soya. Lenders will have to take a haircut of around 60 per cent.
Shailendra Ajmera of EY was appointed as resolution professional to manage the company's affairs and conduct insolvency proceedings.

Patanjali Ayurved's Rs 4,350-crore bid for Ruchi Soya gets lenders nod

The country's leading packaged consumer goods major, Patanjali Ayurved, won the approval to take over edible oil firm Ruchi Soya on Tuesday. The committee of creditors (CoC) of the debt-laden firm voted in favour of Patanjali Ayurved’s Rs 4,350-crore bid.
Patanjali Ayurved spokesperson S K Tijarawala said the Haridwar-based firm was now free to move forward to take over Ruchi Soya. "On Tuesday, the CoC voted in favour of us. A formal intimation is expected tomorrow (Wednesday)," he said. According to sources, around 96 per cent of the voters were in favour of Patanjali.
Ruchi Soya's leading brands include Nutrela, Mahakosh, Sunrich, Ruchi Star and Ruchi Gold.
Patanjali's success comes after a failed attempt to acquire Ruchi Soya last year and fierce competition from one of the country's leading edible oil players — Adani Wilmar.
Last year, the edible oil market in India stood at Rs 1.64 trillion — ahead of the second-largest category: Dairy (Rs 1.39 trillion). It is also the fastest-growing category among large packaged food categories. According to Euromonitor International, the edible oil market grew by 21.8 per cent in 2018 and by 25.6 per cent in 2017.
The deal, which is the first major acquisition for Patanjali, is expected to boost the firm's fortunes and place it among the top of the pecking order of branded edible oil players in the country.
This comes at a time when Patanjali is struggling to grow its business at a rapid pace. It grew substantially between 2010 and 2016. Demonetisation of high-value currency notes in late 2016 and advent of the goods and services tax (GST) structure in mid-2017 hampered the firm's operations in large parts of the country. In 2017-18, Patanjali's revenue growth rate, which ranged from 44 per cent to 110 per cent between 2011 and 2016, dropped to less than 14 per cent.
At present, Patanjali is bringing its on-field operations on track by strengthening its presence in general trade by hiring sales personnel in thousands and adding distributors.
ALSO READ: Ruchi Soya: Lenders to vote on Patanjali's Rs 4,350 cr bid next week
Despite the blow suffered during its first attempt to acquire Ruchi Soya last year, Patanjali Ayurved reiterated its intent to buy out the beleaguered edible oil player and brought the CoC back to the drawing board in December 2018.
A top executive from a bank that has lent to Ruchi Soya, said at the time: "If we get a good deal, we will take Patanjali's offer. Adani Wilmar is also willing to let Patanjali buy Ruchi Soya if the latter can match the offer. Prima facie, if the bid is lucrative for bankers, it shouldn't be a problem."

Ruchi Soya came under the hammer when its lenders began an insolvency auction to recover over Rs 9,345 crore worth of loans. In December 2017, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had referred Ruchi Soya for insolvency proceedings on the application of Standard Chartered Bank and DBS Bank. Shailendra Ajmera was appointed resolution professional (RP) to manage the company's affairs and conduct insolvency proceedings.
ALSO READ: Patanjali files case against 13 firms for illegal export of its products
Patanjali, the lone player left in the contention after the exit of Adani Wilmar, had last month increased its bid value by around Rs 200 crore to Rs 4,350 crore for Ruchi Soya. This excluded capital infusion of Rs 1,700 crore into the company.
Among the financial creditors, State Bank of India has the maximum exposure of around Rs 1,800 crore, followed by Central Bank of India at Rs 816 crore, Punjab National Bank at Rs 743 crore and Standard Chartered Bank at Rs 608 crore.

Ruchi Soya: Lenders to vote on Patanjali's Rs 4,350 cr bid next week

Lenders of debt-ridden Ruchi Soya will vote on April 30 to decide on Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved's revised Rs 4,350 crore bid for the edible oil firm, sources said.
Patanjali, the lone player left in contention after the exit of Adani Wilmar, had last month increased its bid value by around Rs 200 crore to Rs 4,350 crore for the Madhya Pradesh-based Ruchi Soya.

This excludes capital infusion of Rs 1,700 crore into the company.
Sources said the Committee of Creditors (CoC) met on Friday to discuss the revised bid of Patanjali and decided to conduct the voting process on April 30.
In December 2017, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had referred Ruchi Soya for insolvency proceedings on the application of financial creditors Standard Chartered Bank and DBS Bank.
Shailendra Ajmera was appointed as resolution professional (RP) to manage the affairs of the company and undertake the insolvency proceedings.
Ruchi Soya Industries owes around Rs 9,345 crore to financial creditors and another Rs 2,750 crore to operational creditors.
Among financial creditors, the State Bank of India (SBI) has the maximum exposure of around Rs 1,800 crore, followed by Central Bank of India Rs 816 crore, Punjab National Bank Rs 743 crore and Standard Chartered Bank - India Rs 608 crore.
Ruchi Soya has many manufacturing plants and its leading brands include Nutrela, Mahakosh, Sunrich, Ruchi Star and Ruchi Gold.
"We have revised our bid to Rs 4,350 crore from earlier offer of Rs 4,160 crore. We are ready to bail out Ruchi Soya which has the biggest infrastructure for soyabean. It's a national asset," Patanjali's spokesperson S K Tijarawala had said last month.
The decision to increase the bid was taken in the interest of all stakeholders, including farmers and consumers, he had said.
Adani Wilmar, which emerged as the highest bidder in August last year after a long drawn battle with Patanjali, had in December 2018 written to the RP regarding significant delays in resolution process that led to deterioration of Ruchi Soya's assets.
Later, Adani Wilmar, which sells edible oil under the Fortune brand, withdrew from the race.
Adani Wilmar had then said the process was getting delayed as the Patanjali group moved the NCLT, Mumbai.
Patanjali Ayurved had approached NCLT challenging the decision of Ruchi Soya's lenders to approve Adani Wilmar's Rs 6,000 crore takeover bid.
Patanjali group came second with its bid of around Rs 5,700 crore, including the infusion of about Rs 1,700 crore into the edible oil company.

If Patanjali re-evaluates bid, will consider: Ruchi Soya creditors

Despite the blow suffered during its first attempt to acquire Ruchi Soya, Patanjali Ayurved is now showing signs of resilience.
Patanjali, which recently reiterated its intent to buy out the beleaguered edible oil player, has brought the Committee of Creditors (CoC) back to the drawing board.

However, Patanjali may have to tweak its offer in favour of the creditors to bag the deal, sources said.
Currently, the CoC is re-evaluating the Hardwar-based fast moving consumer goods player’s offer for acquiring Ruchi Soya. A top official from a bank that has lent to Ruchi Soya, said, “If we get a good deal, we will take Patanjali’s offer. Adani Wilmar is also willing to let Patanjali buy Ruchi Soya if the latter can match the offer. Prima facie, if the bid is lucrative for bankers, it shouldn’t be a problem.” Lenders met in Mumbai on Monday, after Patanjali approached them recently.
Earlier, Patanjali had lost the race to acquire Ruchi Soya to Adani Wilmar despite placing a higher bid. It made a comeback recently when Adani Wilmar bowed out from the process. Days ago, officials from Patanjali got in touch with the creditors and informed them about its willingness to acquire the oil company. They also said Patanjali is open to re-negotiation. Incidentally, Wilmar’s offer of Rs 43 billion in repayment to the creditors — higher than Patanjali’s Rs 41 billion – was a key factor that had encouraged the creditors to choose the edible oil major, sources said.
“We have expressed our intent to the creditors to acquire Ruchi Soya as we are still very much interested in the deal,” said SK Tijarawala, spokesperson for the Patanjali group. He also said that both parties are far from reaching a consensus and the matter is subject to approval of the National Company Law Tribunal. However, Patanjali is open to further negotiations.
ALSO READ: Patanjali keen on buying Ruchi Soya as Adani Wilmar backs out of deal
According to sources, Patanjali is ready to increase the share of money to the creditors. “Patanjali may make a higher offer than Adani Wilmar’s Rs 43 billion to the creditors,” a person aware of the developments said.
Indore-headquartered Ruchi Soya, once one of the largest processor of edible oils in the country, came to the block a few months ago after it filed for bankruptcy in December 2017. The firm’s accumulated debt mounted to Rs 120 billion while its sales faltered in the past four years – from Rs 315.6 billion in 2014-15 to Rs 120 billion in 2017-18.
According to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), a company has 180 days to find a resolution with a 90-day extension – taking it to 270 days. If the lenders fail to find a resolution plan, the company goes into liquidation.
In a bid to avoid liquidation under the IBC, its lenders put the firm on the block earlier this year. Ruchi Soya had attracted over two dozen bids from private equity majors like KKR and Aion Capital and FMCG majors like ITC, Godrej Agrovet and Emami, apart from Patanjali and Adani Wilmar. Industry experts said the firm’s five port-based refining plants was the key reason for bidders’ interest. This is because a large chunk of edible oils are imported into the country through sea ports.
Acquiring Ruchi Soya’s facilities could be a crucial breakthrough for Patanjali that is aggressively expanding its manufacturing capacity with food parks across the country.
After growing by high double digits between 2012-13 and 2016-17, the Ayurveda major hit a road-bump in 2017-18. The group’s top line growth came down to 13 per cent in the year with sales of Rs 120 billion from 111 per cent the previous year.
Its dependence on co-packers or third party manufacturers played a role in its inability to streamline supply, among other reasons, that impacted its business last year, sources from industry said.
Patanjali already has a wide portfolio of edible oils, including mustard oil, sunflower oil, rice bran oil and groundnut oil.

Patanjali moves NCLT against Ruchi Soya lenders approving Adani Wilmar bid

Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved has approached the NCLT challenging the decision by Ruchi Soya's lenders to approve Adani Wilmar's Rs 60 billion (Rs 6,000 crore) takeover bid.
The matter is expected to come up for hearing on Monday (August 27) before the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), sources said.

When contacted, Patanjali Spokesperson S K Tijarawala declined to comment, saying that matter is sub-judice.
A spokesperson of Adani Group also declined to comment.
On Thursday, Adani Wilmar's bid was approved by the committee of creditors (CoC) of the bankruptcy-bound Ruchi Soya with about 96 per cent votes in favour.
The resolution professional has to seek NCLT approval after the lenders choose a bid.
ALSO READ: Ruchi Soya lenders approve Adani Wilmar's Rs 60-billion resolution plan
Adani Wilmar and Patanjali group have been engaged in a long-drawn battle to take over Ruchi Soya.
While Adani Wilmar emerged as the highest bidder with a Rs 60 billion (Rs 6,000 crore) offer, Patanjali group came second with a Rs 57 billion (Rs 5,700 crore) bid.
Patanjali Ayurved had earlier sought clarification from the RP (resolution professional) of Ruchi Soya related to eligibility of Adani Group to participate in the bidding process.
ALSO READ: Adani Wilmar's Rs 60-billion bid for Ruchi Soya gets approval of CCI
It also sought to know the parameters adopted by the RP to declare Adani Wilmar as the highest bidder.
The Haridwar-based firm had also questioned the appointment of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas as the RP's legal advisor as the said law firm was already advising Adani Group.
Patanjali was asked to submit a revised bid by June 16 to match or better the highest offer of Rs 60 billion (Rs 6,000 crore) by Adani Wilmar under the Swiss Challenge system adopted by the RP and the committee of creditors.
However, Patanjali wrote to the RP seeking clarifications instead of submitting a fresh bid.
Adani Wilmar has been selected by the CoC after two-rounds of bidding.
Ruchi Soya, which is facing the insolvency proceedings, has a total debt of about Rs 120 billion (Rs 12,000 crore). The company has many manufacturing plants and its leading brands include Nutrela, Mahakosh, Sunrich, Ruchi Star and Ruchi Gold.
ALSO READ: Why is everyone keen on buying debt-ridden Ruchi Soya? All you need to know
In December 2017, Ruchi Soya Industries entered into the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) and Shailendra Ajmera was appointed as the RP.
The appointment was made by the NCLT on the application of the creditors Standard Chartered Bank and DBS Bank, under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Patanjali brings back Kimbho chat with new features, re-launch on Aug 27

More than two months after it was taken down hastily, Baba Ramdev-led Patanjali Ayurved on Wednesday said that its messaging app 'Kimbho' is ready with new features and plans to re-launch it this month.
The Haridwar-based firm has now put Kimbho's trail version on Google Play Store for downloads and plans to launch the app officially on August 27.

It will also be available on Apple App store shortly.
"Kimbho app is now ready with new and advanced features," said a tweet by Patanjali Ayurved Managing Director Acharya Balkrishna.
The FMCG firm will officially launch the app on August 27, 2018, after fixing the "shortcomings", he further said.
On May 31 this year, Patanjali had removed Kimbho, which means how are you or what's up in Sanskrit, from Google Play Store and Apple's App Store, a day after the launch saying it was released only for one-day trial.
At that time, several technical experts has pointed out shortcomings in the app on security aspects.
Patanjali is pitching 'Kimbho' to be competitor of popular chat platform Facebook-owned Whatsapp.
When contacted Patanjali spokesperson S K Tijarawala told PTI: "We have put the trail version of Kimbho on the google play store, so that we come to know about the shortcoming. We are open for any amendments for any errors and we have invited feed back from the people also".
According to him, this will be a "safe, secure and swadeshi" messaging platform.
"Now we are expecting millions download during the next 12 days of trail period and we have built a load capacity for that," he said, adding "on August 27, Union Minister for Road Nitin Gadkari along with Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna would launch the swadeshi app".
The company had said that time, it would launch the app officially soon, once its technical development phase is completed.
The company had claimed that it placed the new app on Google Play Store and Apple's App Store only for a day, that too for technical testing.
Patanjali, which is known for its range of FMCG products, had claimed that Kimbho had witnessed around 1.5 lakh downloads in the first three hours when its trial version was earlier put on Google Play Store and App Store for a day only.