From ayurveda products and packaged foods to general insurance and renewable energy, Baba Ramdev-promoted Patanjali Group is expanding into sectors completely unrelated to its mainstay consumer goods business, signalling a broader diversification strategy.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has recently approved the acquisition of Magma General Insurance by Patanjali Ayurved and the Dharampal Satyapal (DS) Group. The transaction, valued at around Rs 4,500 crore, marks Patanjali’s entry into the general insurance business at a time when the sector is witnessing regulatory push and expanding health and motor insurance markets.
At around the same time, Haridwar-headquartered Patanjali Group has made an aggressive entry into India’s renewable energy sector, emerging as a bidder in multiple standalone Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) tenders.
Unlike renewable energy projects, standalone BESS tenders procure storage capacity independent of any specific generation asset. The segment has recently witnessed the entry of global and Indian corporates.
In its insurance play, Patanjali Ayurved will acquire a 73.56% stake in Magma General Insurance, while the Dharampal Satyapal (DS) Group, the maker of Rajnigandha pan masala, will acquire a 24.5% stake from existing shareholders of the Adar Poonawalla Group, including Sanoti Properties, Celica Developers and Jaguar Advisory Services.
With the IRDAI approval, Patanjali will become the insurer’s promoter and continue to infuse capital to strengthen Magma General Insurance’s solvency and support its future growth. The insurer reported a gross premium income of Rs 3,615 crore in FY2026.
The acquisition is expected to provide the Patanjali-DS combine with an established platform in the non-life insurance segment, allowing it to diversify beyond its core fast-moving consumer goods and wellness businesses.
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From retail products like motor, health, personal accident and home to commercial products like fire, engineering, liability and marine, Magma offers a wide array of insurance covers.
Queries sent to Patanjali Group did not elicit any response till the time of filing this report.
Becomes key player in BESS market
In March this year, Patanjali Ayurved emerged as one of six successful bidders in a tender floated by the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) for setting up 2,000 MW/4,000 MWh of standalone BESS capacity.
The company was allocated 100 MW of capacity and quoted a tariff of Rs 1,65,998 per MW per month.
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This comes after the company won a similar tender for standalone BESS floated by Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (RRVUNL) to develop a 500 MW/2,000 MWh standalone BESS under the build-own-operate (BOO) model.
The company emerged as one of six successful bidders and was awarded 250 MW/1,000 MWh capacity at a tariff of Rs 2,85,000 per MW per month.
In October last year, another Patanjali group company, named Patanjali Renewable Energy Private Ltd, was among 11 successful bidders in another RRVUNL tender to develop a 1,000 MW/2,000 MWh standalone BESS under a tariff-based global competitive bidding process.
The company secured 100 MW/200 MWh capacity at a quoted tariff of Rs 1,77,500 per MW per month.
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All these projects are eligible for Viability Gap Funding (VGF) from the Ministry of Power’s Power System Development Fund (PSDF).
Both Patanjali Renewable Energy Private Ltd and Patanjali Ayurved are part of the Patanjali Group, whose flagship listed entity is Patanjali Foods Limited.
According to the company’s FY25 annual report, it has 84.6 MW of installed wind power capacity, of which 18.6 MW is used for captive consumption, with the balance supplied to state power grids. It also operates 0.5 MW of captive solar capacity at its Lodhiwala plant in Uttarakhand and states that its renewable energy operations span 16 locations across six states.
According to its website, Patanjali Renewable Energy Private Limited, incorporated in 2011, currently has 72 MW of solar manufacturing capacity and plans to expand it to 500 MW by 2027.
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The company has also announced plans to establish an additional 7 GWh battery energy storage manufacturing facility. Its product portfolio includes BESS solutions, lithium-ion batteries, solar PV modules and inverters.
The company was included in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) for solar modules in August 2021. However, it was subsequently removed from the active list during later revisions.
Patanjali group has become a big player in India’s FMCG sector after it acquired Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd in 2019 through the insolvency process for about Rs 4,350 crore. In 2022, Ruchi Soya was officially renamed Patanjali Foods Ltd.
Patanjali Foods, which is listed on the stock exchanges, has a market capitalization of Rs 38,573 crore. Acharya Balkrishna is the Chairperson of the company. It made a net profit of Rs 1,814 crore net profit and Rs 40,169 crore revenue in FY26.
