Patanjali Foods Shares Slip

Although Patanjali Foods Ltd clarified in an exchange filing on February 27 that the Supreme Court's observation of 'misleading advertisements’ over some of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd's products will not impact its business as it is a separate listed entity, the company's shares nevertheless fell more than 3% in early trade on February 28.

Patanjali Foods stock has increased by more than 3% over the past 30 days and nearly 30% over the past six months. As of 9.23 am, Patanjali Foods shares had fallen for three consecutive days, trading 2.5 percent lower at Rs 1581.80.

"The observations do not have any bearing on the regular business operations or the financial performance of Patanjali Foods," the company disclosed in exchanges. For failing to uphold their commitment to refrain from making misleading claims in their medicine advertisements, the Patanjali Ayurveda team—which includes yoga guru Ramdev and managing director Balakrishna—was served a show-cause notice by an apex court bench.

The Supreme Court censured Patanjali Ayurveda in November 2023 for its persistent misinformation campaigns criticising modern medicine.

The IMA (Indian Medical Association) petitioned the Supreme Court in a writ case challenging deceptive advertising practices employed by specific corporations. As a result, the court ordered Patanjali Ayurveda to desist from future misleading ad campaigns and to refrain from making any lighthearted remarks regarding the matter in the media.

Patanjali Foods' net profit for the December quarter was 216.54 crores, down from 254.54 crores in September. In December, the company's revenue from operations increased to Rs 7,910.70 crore from Rs 7,821.89 crore in the previous quarter.