Baba Ramdev built his political stakes by throwing stones at the previous Congress-led government, accusing them of corruption. He sided with the current ruling dispensation of Bharatiya Janata Party and on occasions peddled hate against the minority Muslim community.
He branded himself as a messenger of virtuous consumerism, portraying his Patanjali business empire as a patriotic bastion dedicated to serving the nation and fighting international companies. But the saffron-clad yogi’s empire frequently employed shady tactics typical of businessmen to maximise their profits.
The Collective’s investigation has revealed that Baba Ramdev and his associates created a tax-exempt charitable organisation to park their money and investments, including in bankrupt consumer goods company Ruchi Soya that Patanjali acquired with money loaned by banks.
In 2016, people linked to the Patanjali Group set up a non-profit charity company called Yogakshem Sansthan for establishing and promoting yoga and ayurveda centres, earning it a tax-free status. While the non-profit didn’t do a rupee worth of charity for six years, it was solely used to park investments worth tens of crores of rupees, including what Ramdev’s close associates made in Ruchi Soya, reveal company records accessed during the investigation.
Tax laws have restrictions on non-profits earning income through business investments and commercial activities to prevent such charitable organisations being used as vehicles to make profits without paying taxes.
Many non-profits have been investigated and prosecuted by tax authorities for minor transgressions. But Ramdev’s charitable company stayed off scrutiny despite it not doing any of its stated charitable work and instead worked as a tool to move investments while frequently changing ownership.
Our earlier investigation had found that the Patanjali group had spawned several dubious and zero-revenue companies that discreetly traded in ecologically sensitive Aravalli forestland to earn unprecedented superprofits. This land, they had wrongly disclosed, was for setting up factories to manufacture ayurvedic medicines and products.
Click here to read the investigation by my colleague Tapasya on how Yogakshem became part of a dubious investment parking game of Ramdev and his associates.