Who are Sarvan and Sunita Poddar? NRI couple who gave loan of lakhs to Baba Ramdev to launch Patanjali

Baba Ramdev Patanjali: Patanjali Ayurveda business owned by yoga guru Baba Ramdev was once debt-ridden but now enjoys annual revenue of around Rs 40,000 crore. When Baba Ramdev and his close friend, ‘Billionaire Baba’ Acharya Balkrishna started the business in 2006, a personal loan of between Rs 50-60 crore was taken. At that time, he had no banking experience and no bank account. Although even after this he had got such a huge loan. NRI couple Sunita and Saravan Poddar, who are devotees of Baba Ramdev, were the ones who actually provided this money.

gifted an island

According to media reports, the duo also has a 3% ownership stake in the organization, apart from providing loans to start the business. The Scottish NRI couple, who gifted an island to Baba Ramdev, own a majority stake in one of the biggest businesses in the multi-billion dollar yoga guru’s empire. Little Cumbre, an island of approximately 900 acres, was bought by Scottish citizen Sarwan “Sam” Poddar and his wife Sunita for two million pounds, and was given to Ramdev in 2009. The uninhabited island, which houses the remains of a former palace, is home to a retreat complex for yoga and Ayurveda.

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second-largest shareholder

According to documents filed by Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd with the Registrar of Companies, Poddar holds 12.46 lakh shares in the company. The total shares allotted by the firm are 3.47 crore. As a result, the Poddar duo own 7.2% of the business that manufactures most of the goods in the Ramdev empire. The Poddar duo is the second largest shareholder of Patanjali Ayurveda after Acharya Balakrishna. The Poddar couple had earlier informed the media that Sunita insisted that they buy the island as she had lost a lot of weight after taking to Ramdev’s yoga.

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Companies with a corporate culture have long been interested in the success of Patanjali Ayurveda. Each employee of the organization greets each other by saying “Om”, which adds to its distinctive work culture. As per the business policy, the employees are not allowed to consume non-vegetarian food on corporate grounds. Additionally, it is not authorized to drink or smoke on the Patanjali property. Acharya Balakrishna claims that Patanjali strongly promotes gender equality with a 70:30 split between men and women. Let us tell you that Patanjali Ayurveda has expanded tremendously during the last 14 years. The group also acquired Ruchi Soya late last year.