After FMCG, Patanjali wants to strike gold in digital health startup space

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s FMCG Company Patanjali has already taken the market share from the big daddies of the industry to become the favorite of the nation. Moving ahead, he is now focusing at the digital health space in the country, and is ready to take on start-ups like such as Lybrate and Practo.

For this, the Haridwar-based company would be coming up with an online platform, called Chikitsalaya, exclusively for ayurvedic consultation and treatment.

Industry experts are of the opinion that this would help the company, which was getting around five crore internet searches every month, speed up its outreach.

"A company that manufactures its own drugs and sets up a digital consultation platform subsequently will have a multifold impact on its business," Saurabh Arora, founder & CEO of Lybrate, told ET. Backed by Tiger Global, Lybrate is one of India’s largest online doctor consultation platforms.

As of now, Patanjali operates in the FMCG sector and sells products like ghee, soaps and honey, while its sister concern Divya Pharmacy manufactures and sells Ayurvedic medicines. Besides this, Ramdev also has an ayurveda hospital and a medical college in his campus located near Haridwar.

"Absence of doctors and pharmacies is the main problem faced by traditional medicine practices such as ayurveda in the country. If Ramdev manages to launch an online consultation platform, he will be one of the forerunners in the business," Punit Kapoor, director of online pharma company BigChemist, told ET.

"Even large FMCG companies have started working on separate websites for their natural products. Online consultation means patients will not have to physically walk into a doctor's chamber. It means, reaching out to a global audience," he added.

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