Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Is Making A Small Beginning In Solar Panel Manufacturing

Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved, which recently announced its intention to borrow Rs 1,000 crore to finance its expansion plans, is set to enter the lucrative market of solar power equipment with a manufacturing unit in Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida.

According to Mint, the Yoga guru’s company had in 2016 acquired Advance Navigation and Solar Technologies, a manufacturer of navigation aid equipment, and plans to invest around Rs 100 crore to increase the facility’s manufacturing capacity of 120 megawatts.

The company’s plan to enter the solar equipment market comes at a time when it has grown at a stunning pace. Set up in 2006, it has increased its revenue more than five fold to Rs 10,561 crore this year from Rs 2,006 crore in 2014-15. It plans to cross Rs 20,000-25,000 crore in sales by 31 March 2018.

India plans to generate 40 gigawatts (GW) of solar power by 2022 to meet its clean energy targets and is among the largest markets for solar equipment. To give a boost to solar equipment manufacturers in India, the Narendra Modi government is considering a 30 per cent capital subsidy as part of a new solar manufacturing policy. Other schemes, and policy initiatives such as “rent a roof”, have also been introduced by the government.

The high demand in India has resulted in the import of relatively poor quality Chinese products into the country. Poor-quality solar modules imported from China, which have flooded the Indian market and have been rejected by developers, are being sold in the domestic market at a discount, a recent Mint report said. India is conducting an anti-dumping investigation on solar equipment from China, Taiwan and Malaysia.

According to Patanjali managing director Acharya Balkrishna, the company’s plan to manufacture solar equipment is it line with the ‘swadeshi movement’ promoted by Ramdev. “With solar, each household in India can have power supply, and we are here to make that happen,” Balkrishna told Mint.

Also Read: How Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Cracked The FMCG Supply Chain To Dominate The Market