Patanjali Foods shares fall 5% after SC summons Baba Ramdev, Acharya Balakrishna

The case is related to alleged misleading advertisements published by the company for its traditional ayurvedic medicines which claim to cure certain diseases.

Earlier, the SC barred the consumer firm from publishing advertisements for its traditional ayurvedic medicines.

The company later issued a statement saying that the SC's order did not relate to Patanjali Foods (PFL) which is an independent listed entity and operates in the space of edible oil and food FMCG products only. It further said that the observations do not have any bearing on the regular business operations or the financial performance of Patanjali
Foods.

The apex court order came on the back of an ongoing legal dispute with the Indian Medical Association (IMA), which has accused Patanjali of allegedly disparaging other forms of conventional medicines. The court said Patanjali violated its assurance to judges last year in the ongoing case that it would not publish advertisements that make "casual statements claiming medicinal efficacy".

The IMA told the court that Ramdev's firm continued to publish newspaper ads claiming to offer a "permanent solution" for conditions, such as blood pressure, asthma, and diabetes, the Reuters report said.

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Ramdev had previously denied the criticism and accused some doctors of spreading propaganda against traditional medicines, which are hugely popular in India.
Last month, India's top court pulled up Patanjali for prima facie violation of the undertaking it had given in the court about its products and statements claiming their medicinal efficacy. The court had then issued a notice to the company seeking its reply on why contempt proceedings should not be initiated.

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