Delhi HC Orders Patanjali to Pull Down Ads Disparaging Dabur’s Chyawanprash; Here's What Happened

Patanjali Ayurved received an interim notice from the Delhi High Court to remove disparaging advertisements against Dabur India’s Chyawanprash products. The Delhi High Court’s Justice Mini Pushkarna, in an order on Thursday, asked the Baba Ramdev-backed company to stop telecasting commercials in which the yoga guru is questioning the authenticity of the Chyawanprash products in the market, the Bar and Bench reported. 

The Case Against Patanjali 

The case against Patanjali reportedly stemmed from an ad where Baba Ramdev is questioning the quality of Chyawanprash products available in the market. 

“Jinko Ayurved aur Vedo ka gyaan nahi, Charak, Sushrut, Dhanwantari aur Chyawanrishi ke parampara mei ‘original’ Chyawanprash kaise bana payenge,” said Baba Ramdev in the ad.

The matter surfaced in December last year after Dabur India requested the Delhi HC to grant it interim relief by asking Patanjali to take down the commercial in question.

Apart from this, Dabur contested the references made regarding a 40-herb Chyawanprash as “ordinary” in the ad featuring the Patanjali founder. Dabur, through its legal representative, Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi, argued that the point was a direct reference to Dabur’s product, which in its ad claims to use “40+ herbs” and has a stronghold over 60% of the Chyawanprash market. 

“They refer to us as ordinary. They make a market leader ordinary,” Dabur had said in previous hearings, the Economic Times reported. 

Dabur reportedly told the court that despite multiple notices to Patanjali Ayurved, the company continued to run the commercials over the previous weeks. 

The FMCG major contested that the statements made by the Patanjali founder in the ad had three key issues, including Patanjali’s own foundation, questioning Dabur’s adherence to Ayurvedic tradition, and projecting Dabur’s product as inferior, the Bar and Bench reported. The giant also argued that such ads mislead customers and impact users' confidence in products that follow strict regulatory standards.