Key Points:
All three companies that participated in the Uttarakhand Tourism Project tender had Acharya Balkrishna as a major shareholder, raising suspicions of collusion.
The tender included 142 acres of public land with infrastructure like huts, museums, and a helipad, constructed at public expense.
While critics and media reports highlight potential collusion due to Balkrishna’s rising stakes and cross-company investments, Uttarakhand Tourism officials have dismissed the allegations.
Managing Director of Patanjali, Acharya Balkrishna, who is also a trusted confidant of Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev, has won the bidding race for the tender of the Uttarakhand Tourism Project. The Tourism Board of Uttarakhand introduced the tender with the aim of boosting adventure tourism at the George Everest Estate near Mussoorie. The tender covers 142 acres of land.
The three companies that participated in the bidding race had one common factor in them—one dominant shareholder, Ramdev’s aide Balkrishna, revealed an investigation conducted by The Indian Express on 12 September 2025.
The Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) introduced the tender in December 2022 to foster adventure tourism. The tender came with a prestigious package consisting of 142 acres of land (approximately 6.19 million sq. feet), a café, five wooden huts, parking, pathways, two museums, and even a helipad. All of this included in the tender was constructed at public expense, and the bidding winner only had to pay ₹1 crore annually.
Three companies advanced to participate in the bidding war—Prakriti Organics India Pvt. Ltd., Bharuwa Agri Science Pvt. Ltd., and Rajas Aerosports and Adventures Pvt. Ltd. The question of collusion arose when a report by The Indian Express revealed that all three companies in the bidding process had one dominant shareholder: Balkrishna.
Balkrishna, co-founder of Patanjali Ayurved, holds a massive 94% stake in the company and had a net worth of $2.9 billion as of 12 September 2025, according to Forbes.
The investigation pointed out that Balkrishna owned more than 99% of the shares in two bidders—Prakriti Organics India Pvt. Ltd. and Bharuwa Agri Science Pvt. Ltd. The winner of the prestigious adventure tourism project tender, awarded in July 2023, was Rajas Aerosports and Adventures Pvt. Ltd.
At the initial stages of the bidding process, Balkrishna held a 25.01% stake in the company. However, after officials awarded the deal to the third bidder, his shares in the company rose to a whopping 69.43%. The suspicion of collusion grew even stronger when the first two bidders owned by Balkrishna, who lost the tender, bought around 17% of Rajas Aerosports and Adventures Pvt. Ltd. in October 2023.
Further questions about the fairness of the bidding competition arose when other companies owned by Balkrishna started buying shares of Rajas Aerosports and Adventures Pvt. Ltd. Companies such as Bharuwa Solutions, Fit India Organic, Bharuwa Agro Solution, and Patanjali Revolution bought 33.2% of the shares.
The tender rules state that companies participating in the bidding process must not engage in any form of collusion. In the case of the Uttarakhand tourism project, all three companies that bid for the tender had one commanding shareholder. This raises the question of whether the bidding process was free of corruption or not.
If the UTDB determines that participants engaged in any “corrupt or fraudulent activities” during the process, the contract will be immediately cancelled. Although the Tourism Board of Uttarakhand has dismissed all allegations and called the link misleading and false, questions remain.
Deputy Director of the adventure tourism wing, Amit Lohani, stated that it is not “unusual” for multiple companies in the bidding process to have one common shareholder. “The tender was open, and anyone could participate. It is not unusual for some to hold shares in other companies,” said Lohani in his statement.
Additional CEO of the Tourism Development Board, Ashvini Pundir, also countered the narrative of collusion. Pundir emphasized that the three companies that bid for the tender are legal and independent entities. “We do not go on witch hunts of companies and their backgrounds.
We simply award the tender to the highest bidder,” added Pundir. Critics, however, have raised questions about transparency and fairness in acquiring a government tender through legitimate means.
The interconnected links among the parties involved in the adventure tourism project bidding continue to raise concerns. A spokesperson for Rajas Aerosports commented and dismissed all collusion allegations, stating that passive ownership and collusion should not be compared.
They further added, “It is factually incorrect and misleading to equate passive shareholding by an investor with collusion.”
Balkrishna’s association with the Aerosports company began in 2018, but his involvement with the firm solidified after the tourism tender. The fact that all the firms competing for the project were backed by one major figure raises serious questions.
Was the competition fair? Why were no other companies involved in the process? And even if they were, would they have stood a chance in a competition where the winner seemed predetermined?
These persisting questions fuel the discourse on the lack of transparency and speculations of collusion. [Rh/VS]
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