At Patanjali Ayurved's manufacturing facility in Haridwar, there is brisk activity as cartons of freshly made products are being loaded onto trucks to be dispatched to stores across India. With the financial year nearing a close, an official pointed explained, all hands are on the deck to help the company achieve its targeted turnover of Rs 5,000 crore this fiscal. For a manufacturing company set up about 10 years ago, achieving a Rs 5,000-crore turnover is not easy. However, for Patanjali Ayurved, which is breaking conventional marketing norms, sales are inching up month on month. Sources in the know believe Patanjali could have clocked monthly sales of around Rs 600-700 crore in January and February, which means Baba Ramdev's baby could become a billiondollar entity, with its annualized turnover expected to cross the Rs 7,000-crore mark before the end of fiscal 2017.

But Balkrishna said that would take time. "We have to plan, right from procurement of raw materials to processing to manufacturing and marketing. We work on a single channel right from the farmer to the end consumer and that is the real reason why our quality and costs are under con ..

"We buy raw materials directly from the farmer. In other companies, raw material sourcing and marketing of products are done by different entities. So we don't have sudden peaks and troughs in growth, we plan a steady growth. It's not like a share market where one day there is growth and the other day a slump," Balkrishna said.

The rural market is another area where FMCG biggies could face a tough challenge from Patanjali's products, which are priced below regular brands because the company consciously operates on thin margins.

"We are expanding our reach through tempos which can go deeper into rural markets. We will begin with 500-600 tempos and will gradually expand the network," said Balkrishna.