Patanjali considering bidding for IPL title sponsorship
New Delhi: Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved is considering to bid for the title sponsorship of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL), according to a company official.
The slot of the title sponsorship of IPL was vacated after the Chinese handset maker Vivo decided to exit from it.
The move would help the Haridwar-based firm access a global marketing platform, as Patanjali is focusing on exports for its Ayurveda-based FMCG products.
Confirming the development, Patanjali spokesperson S K Tijarawala told PTI: "We are considering this".
"This is for Vocal For Local and making one Indian brand as global, this is the right platform. We are considering into that perspective," he said.
However, Tijarawala also added that the company is yet to take a final call on the issue.
"We have to take a final decision, whether we would take it or not," Tijarawala added.
According to him, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is coming with the expression of interest on Monday and it has to submit its proposal by August 14.
Last week, BCCI and Vivo decided to suspend their partnership for the 2020 IPL beginning on September 19, in the UAE, amid clamour to boycott Chinese products in the wake of the Sino-India border stand-off.
The title sponsorship is a significant part of the IPL's commercial revenue, half of which is shared equally by the franchises.
Vivo won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for a reported sum of Rs 2,190 crore, approximately Rs 440 crore per annum.
The Haridwar-based Patanjali group has an estimated turnover of around Rs 10,500 crores. It had acquired debt-ridden Ruchi Soya in a corporate insolvency resolution process for around Rs 4,350 crore after competing with Adani Group.
Patanjali Ayurved had reported a revenue of Rs 8,329 crore in FY 2018-19. However overall the group's turnover was much higher as Patanjali Ayurved consists of mainly its FMCG business and its Ayurvedic medicines.
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Student found dead in hostel room in IIT Kharagpur
Kolkata (PTI): A 22-year-old M Tech student was found dead in his hostel room in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the second such incident reported on the campus within a span of 10 days.
The student, identified as Soham Haldar, was found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room on Tuesday and he was immediately taken to the institute hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, an IIT Kharagpur official said.
Haldar, a dual-degree student in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, was a boarder of the Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall of Residence on the campus.
Police from the Kharagpur Town police station have initiated a probe into the incident as preliminary findings indicated that it could be a case of suicide, though the exact cause of death will be ascertained following the post-mortem examination, the official said.
In a statement, the institute expressed deep grief over the student's death and said a detailed inquiry has been initiated.
The authorities have informed the family and are extending all possible assistance to them, it added.
Director Suman Chakraborty told PTI that the institute will strengthen the mechanism to identify stressed-out and depressed students and take follow-up steps to address their issues.
The grief-stricken parents of the student, who hailed from Barasat in North 24 Parganas district, have come to the campus and the authorities will speak to them, he said.
"Haldar's friends, faculty and staffers also could not gauge any stress or anxiety in him. But we need to enable students suffering from anxiety and extreme stress to open up their minds and do everything needed to prevent such incidents," he said.
Investigators are also scrutinising CCTV footage from the hostel premises to piece together the sequence of events leading to the incident.
The incident comes close on the heels of another student's death reported on April 18, when 21-year-old Jaibir Singh Dodia, a third-year Mechanical Engineering student from Ahmedabad, allegedly died after jumping from the eighth floor of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hall of Residence. That case is also under investigation.
The back-to-back incidents have once again brought the issue of mental health and student support systems at the institute into focus, especially in view of several such cases reported last year.
