Informist, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025

NEW DELHI – The division bench of the Delhi High Court on Friday warned of imposing a fine on Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. if it found that the company's appeal against a single-judge order in Dabur India Ltd.'s chyawanprash products case was useless. The single-judge order directed Patanjali Ayurved to delete parts of an advertisement that disparaged Dabur's chyawanprash products.

There is no reason why the division bench should sit in appeal over the single judge's July interim order, which was discretionary in nature, said the bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla.

"You (Patanjali) have painted black everyone who is making chyawanprash saying that they don't know how to make it. This is a generic disparagement case. The interim order (by single judge) is purely discretionary. Why should we interfere in appeal? The principles are applied correctly," said the division bench. "Where is the irreparable loss? Nothing. We have put our mind to it. If we find that it is a luxury litigation, we would impose costs. We are not going to allow every 'aaltu faaltu' appeal now," the bench added.

Following this, the counsel for Patanjali sought some time to sit with Dabur on the issue. Agreeing to it, the court placed the matter for hearing on Sept. 23.

Earlier, Dabur India had highlighted Patanjali Ayurved's commercial which said that those who lack knowledge of Ayurved and Vedic traditions cannot produce the "original" chyawanprash. Dabur India had said that the statement implied that only Patanjali Ayurved's product was authentic, while other brands were inferior or fake.

Dabur India had said the advertisements incorrectly claimed Patanjali Ayurved's product was made using more than 51 herbs. Patanjali Ayurved is using only 47 herbs, said Dabur India, adding that it was "misinformation to the public at large". The petitioner said that Patanjali Ayurved has specifically referred to Dabur's product made using 40 herbs as ordinary. "They refer to us as ordinary. They make a market leader ordinary," said Dabur India, adding that it holds a dominant 61.6% market share in the chyawanprash segment. Further, Dabur India said Patanjali was using mercury in its chyawanprash product, which was not fit for consumption by children. Patanjali Ayurved is the parent company of Patanjali Foods Ltd.

At 1320 IST, shares of Patanjali Foods were up 0.5% at INR 609.30 on the National Stock Exchange, while those of Dabur India were marginally up at INR 536.65. End

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

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