Delhi HC pulls up Patanjali in Dabur Chyawanprash ad dispute
The Delhi High Court rebuked Patanjali for appealing an order to modify ads allegedly disparaging Dabur’s Chyawanprash. The case highlights a fierce brand rivalry in India’s Rs 1,000+ crore Chyawanprash market, where Dabur dominates and Patanjali challenges aggressively.
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The Delhi High Court on Friday admonished Patanjali Ayurved for challenging an earlier order that required it to modify advertisements for its Chyawanprash product, following allegations of disparagement by rival Dabur, Brand & Bench reported.
A Bench of Justices Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla told Patanjali it must either withdraw its appeal or risk costs, observing that the single judge’s interim order had not banned the entire ad campaign but only asked for the deletion of objectionable portions.
The case will next be heard on September 23.
The dispute underscores the intensifying brand war in India’s Ayurvedic health supplements segment, where Dabur’s flagship Chyawanprash dominates with over 60% market share, and Patanjali has aggressively positioned its “Special Chyawanprash” as a challenger.
In July, Justice Mini Pushkarna directed Patanjali to edit claims that went beyond permissible puffery, including phrases like “Why settle for ordinary Chyawanprash made with 40 herbs?” and a TV commercial storyboard implying that only Patanjali’s Ayurvedic expertise could deliver an “original” product. The court ruled such messaging misrepresented rival formulations and disparaged competing brands.
Dabur argued that Patanjali’s campaign amounted to “generic disparagement” by questioning its authenticity and branding its product as inferior, directly harming its consumer trust and long-established Ayurvedic legacy.
Patanjali, however, defended the ads as fair commercial speech, claiming they never mentioned Dabur by name, and that exaggeration was a legitimate form of advertising. It stressed that its “special” formulation was rooted in Ayurved Sar Sangrah and carried regulatory approvals.
