Yoga guru Baba Ramdev is eying Indore to further expand his Patanjali empire in the central and western India. According to sources close to the Madhya Pradesh Aydyogik Kendra Vikas Nigam, Patanjali group intends to invest Rs1,000 crore in and around Indore in the areas of food processing, manufacturing of cosmetic products and medicinal plants.
On Sunday Ramdev’s aide Acharya Balkrishna accompanied by senior officials from AKVN and the industry department inspected several locations in and around Indore to set up manufacturing units for various Patanjali products. After inspecting land at several locations, he left for Bhopal in a private helicopter where he was scheduled to meet state chief secretary Antony Desouza.
Notable among those who accompanied Balkrishna to explore the possibilities of land availability included AKVN MD Kumar Purushottam and TRIFEC director DP Ahuja.
Confirming this, AKVN MD said that Baba Ramdev’s aide inspected some available lands in Indore and Dhar and of various lands shown to him, he has evinced more interest in land located at Sardarpur in Dhar district and at Jaitpura near Dhamnod. Besides he also evinced interest in lands at Pithampur and at Agar Malwa, Kumar Purushottam said adding that final decision in this regard will be taken by Ramdev after his talk with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
If the land deal materialized, it would be Patanjali’s first manufacturing and food processing unit in Madhya Pradesh, for which it would purchase food grains, fruits, vegetables locally and from adjoining regions.