An Indian yoga guru's budding consumer goods empire is making multinationals in Asia's third-largest economy sweat. They're hesitant to acknowledge the threat, but a tilt in consumer preferences toward what Forbes has labeled India's Body Shop is becoming hard to write off as a passing fad.
Colgate-Palmolive India reported its worst sales growth in 44 quarters on Wednesday. Hindustan Unilever's revenue expanded at the weakest pace in more than six years and the new CEO of Nestle India recently got queried by analysts about how Maggi noodles will deal with competition from Baba Ramdev, the saffron-robe clad man who was, until just a few years ago, a slightly famous yoga teacher and dabbling anti-corruption campaigner. Now, his company Patanjali Ayurved makes everything from herbal soap to toothpaste, rose sherbet and aloe vera juice.