Balkrishna (known as Acharya Balkrishna, born 4 August 1972) is an Indian

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businessman and chairman of the consumer goods company

Patanjali Ayurved Patanjali Ayurved is an Indian multinational conglomerate holding company, based in Haridwar, India. It was founded by Ramdev and Balkrishna in 2006. Its office is in Delhi, with manufacturing units and headquarters in the industrial area of ...

. He was reported by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' to have a net worth of billion . According to Ashish Kumar of Arya Samaj, Balkrishna has successfully established and managed a global business without a formal education.

Early life

Balkrishna was born on 4 August 1972 in

Haridwar Haridwar (; ) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. The city is situated on the righ ...

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...

(then

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

) to Nepalese immigrants, Sumitra Devi and Jay Vallabh Subedi originating from

Syangja Syangja District ( ne, स्याङ्जा जिल्ला; ), a part of Gandaki Province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The district, with Syangja bazaar (a small town) as its district headquarters, covers an area of ...

, Nepal. He spent his childhood in Nepal. He returned to India and studied at Khanpur Gurukul in Haryana, where he met

Ramdev Ramdev (born Ram Kisan Yadav in 1965), also referred to by his followers with the honorifics Baba or Swami, is an Indian yoga guru, businessman and brand ambassador for Patanjali Ayurved. Ramdev is primarily known for being a proponent of yog ...

Career

On 5 January 1995, Balkrishna,

, and Acharya Karamveer founded Divya Yoga Mandir Trust which was set up at the Kripalu Bagh Ashram in

. In 2006, they founded

, a

fast-moving consumer goods Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), also known as consumer packaged goods (CPG), are products that are sold quickly and at a relatively low cost. Examples include non-durable household goods such as packaged foods, beverages, toiletries, cand ...

(FMCG) company involved in the manufacturing and trading of FMCG, herbal, and

ayurvedic Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...

products. Followers of Ramdev, NRIs Sunita and Sarwan Poddar, helped kick-start the business with a loan. According to Balkrishna, he had taken out a ₹50–600 million loan at a time when he had never held a personal bank account in his name. In 2012, the company posted a turnover of which by 2015–2016 had risen to . Patanjali Ayurved's revenue from operations increased marginally to ₹9,022.71 crore in the year up to 31 March 2020, Revenue stood at about ₹8,522.68 crore in FY19. While Ramdev does not hold a stake in Patanjali Ayurved, he is the face of the firm and endorses its products to his followers across his yoga camps and television programmes. Balkrishna owns 94% of the company and serves as its managing director. He is a close aide of Ramdev. Acharya Balkrishna listed in India's 50 most influential personalities 2020. He was reported India's third-youngest billionaire by

Forbes India ''Forbes India'' is the Indian edition of ''Forbes'' which is managed by Reliance Industries-owned media conglomerate, Network 18. History and profile Since its founding in 2008, ''Forbes India'' has achieved a circulation of 50,000 copies and ma ...

Rich List 2020. He is also second billionaire of Nepalese Origin.

Personal life

Balkrishna lives in

, Uttarakhand, and is unmarried.

Posts

*General Secretary, Divya Yog Mandir (Trust). *General Secretary,

Patanjali Yogpeeth Patanjali Yogpeeth is a yoga institute located in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India. Founded in 2006 and named after the Rishi Patanjali, the purpose of the institute is to practice, research, and develop yoga and ayurveda. The institute is the flags ...

(Trust). * managing director, Patanjali Ayurved Limited. * Vice Chancellor, Patanjali University * General Secretary, Patanjali Gramodhyog Trust * Chief Editor, Yog Sandesh * General Secretary, Patanjali Research Foundation

Awards

* Balkrishna was awarded the Champions of Change award in 2019, for his work in the field of Ayurved. * Acharya Balkrishna was awarded the "UNSDG 10 Most Influential People in Healthcare Award", for his work in Healthcare sector. * Acharya Balkrishna received "Best Wellness Impact Global award" from the CFI.co. * Acharya Balkrishna honoured with "Bheeshma Puraskar" by Sant shree Gyaneshwar Gurukul, Pune. * Acharya Balkrishna was awarded with AIMA Managing India Award 2018 for the "Transformational Business Leader of the Year" by Central Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. * Acharya Balkrishna was awarded with "Shalin Manav Ratna Award- 2018" By Anoopam Mission for his contribution towards social welfare and Ayurveda. * Acharya Balkrishna honoured with "Degree of Doctor of letter (Yoga) (Honoris Causa)" by S-Vyasa Deemed University Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana for outstanding work done in the field of Yoga and Ayurveda. * Acharya honoured with "Geeta Ratna Samman" by Spirituality Consciousness Association in January 2018 for his contribution towards Yoga and Ayurveda. * Acharya Balkrishna was awarded with "Indian of the Year Business Category- 2017" for his contribution to the country to strengthened the foundation of our society and has helped build Brand India in the process by CNN-News 30 November 2017 * Acharya Balkrishna was awarded with "Jashn-e-Youngistan Samman for Business Icon of the Year" by News 24. * Acharya Balkrishna honoured with "Lokmanya Tilak Award 2017" by Tilak Smarak Trust on 1 August 2017 for his contribution towards promotion Yoga & Ayurveda * Acharya Balkrishna Ji awarded with "Bloomberg Special Recognition Award" On 22 March 2016 for outstanding contribution in the field of Ayurveda. * Acharya Balkrishna, was bestowed with "Bharat Gaurav" award by Kaptan Singh Solanki, Governor of Haryana and Punjab in recognition of his amazing work in the field of Ayurveda at a programme organised by Indian International Friendship Society at New Delhi on Saturday.

Recognition

Balkrishna has been recognized as one of the top 2 % world top scientists in a study conducted by

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and

Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', th ...

. Professor John PA Loannidis and his team from Stanford University, USA, has recently published this list together with Elsevier, Europe.

References

External links

Balkrishna's profile in Forbes
{{Authority control 1972 births Businesspeople from Uttarakhand Indian billionaires Indian people of Nepalese descent People from Haridwar Living people Ramdev