Patanjali’s swadeshi movement has propelled it from a small Ayurvedic medicine-focused business to a multinational consumer goods manufacturer with annual revenue of over Rs. 10 crores (2016-17). Since its inception back in 2006, the company has diversified its operations to a variety of segments, marketing each and every one of its products with a subtle, yet noticeable, anti-Western sentiment.
अब भारत बोलेगा…!पूज्य @yogrishiramdev @Ach_Balkrishna के मार्गदर्शन में उनके शिष्य नवदीक्षित साधुओं और राष्ट्रनिष्ठ विशेषज्ञों ने #स्वदेशी तकनीक से इजाद कर बनाया यह #KIMBHO एप#भारत #स्वाभिमानPatanjali’s new app to challenge WhatsApp @bst_official https://t.co/hxBCbwdrnV
Just a few days later, the company launched another unlikely product – an instant messaging app called Kimbho – to take on the popular Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp. Yet again, the app was promoted as a ‘swadeshi messaging platform’ which was developed using ‘swadeshi techniques’. Ironically, the swadeshi techniques used to develop the app don’t quite match up to those of the Western rivals it’s trying to shut down.
Our trial version of #kimbho app is no longer available for download on any platform. We don’t take any responsibility for many dulicate apps showing on anywhere. Beware!आम सूचना..!#पतंजलि का #किम्भो एप का ट्रायल वर्जन अब कहीं भी डाउनलोड के लिए उपलब्ध नहीं है @yogrishiramdev https://t.co/KWkVrpoVge
Despite Patanjali’s official announcement, the app’s tragic state led us to believe that it could be a fake. However, Patanjali’s spokesperson SK Tijarawala has now announced that the Kimbho app, which made a rather short appearance on the Play Store, was actually official and the initial release was just a test run.
What About the Data?
Tijarawala’s recent statement raises a number of questions about the Kimbho app: Why was the app released in such a sorry state, and what indeed was the purpose of a public test run?
We’ve reached out to SK Tijarawala and Patanjali regarding all of our aforementioned concerns, but we haven’t received a response yet. There are some serious security issues to be considered. If Patanjali’s claim that the test run managed to reach 1.5 lakh users is true, then that’s a whole lot of data, not far away from the number of Facebook users in India affected by the Cambridge Analytica breach. We will continue to follow-up with Patanjali and publish any updates as soon as we get any statement from the company.
