PATANJALI'S CORONIL CONTROVERSY ON COVID-19 CURE

There is hardly anyone in India who does not know the name of Patanjali Ayurved Limited. It is one of the fastest-growing consumer products company in India and was established in 2006. Its headquarters is in Haridwar, Uttarakhand while the registered office is located in Delhi.  

All of the Patanjali products are made from natural components and follow the ideology of Ayurveda. The company is focused on Indian middle-class consumers and sells its products at significantly lesser prices than the competition. It has even forced companies like ITC, HUL, Pamalive, etc. to launch their own ayurvedic or natural component derived products. To counter Patanjali, HUL in December 2016 revived its Ayurveda brand, Lever Ayush (Ayush), and launched 20 new personal care products. As of 2019, it is valued at Rs. 3,000 crores. 

Corona Virus Pandemic and Coronil

The COVID-19 is a worldwide pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As per WHO (confirmed by WHO on 12 January 2020) the virus first appeared in Wuhan City, Hubei, China in late 2019. It within few months spread to all the continents except Antarctica.   

Being a virus antibiotic did not work effectively against it. Researchers across the world are testing various vaccines to find a cure but currently, as of June 2020, no full-proof solution has been found. Patanjali claiming to have found the cure via Ayurveda held a press conference on June 23, 2020 to launch Corona Kit. In the press conference, Baba Ramdev said that:

"With the help of NIMS, Jaipur we conducted the clinical control study on 95 patients. The biggest thing which came out of this is that within 2 days 69% of patients recovered and became negative from positive (cases) and within 7 days 100% of them became negative"

Previous controversies relating Patanjali

There had been many controversies around Patanjali:

The first one can be the launch of  Patanjali’s Atta Noodles displayed an FSSAI license number on its packets. But FSSAI’s then-chairperson Ashish Bahuguna claimed to not knowing how they procured them. 

Second, India’s defence forces canteens, suspended the sale of Patanjali’s flagship amla juice after it was deemed unfit for consumption. 

Third, in 2018 Patanjali was found to be selling a medicinal product with the future manufacturing date. 

Conclusion

A day after the press conference, the governments in Maharashtra and Rajasthan came out with an explicit warning to Patanjali against advertising or selling Coronil until the AYUSH Ministry has given its approval. And now AYUSH Ministry has given Patanjali the permission to sell Coronil as an immunity booster and not as a medicinal cure for COVID-19.

So what is the press conference according to you.

i.                a miscommunication confusing the immunity booster as a cure

ii.             a marketing malpractice aimed at quickly encasing the pandemic by exploiting helpless and gullible consumers. 

iii.            a well thought through marketing strategy to take on competition(ayurvedic and allopathic companies) which is likely to provide good Coronil sales in the short and long run