The Uttarakhand government's tourism board launched a tender for a showpiece project to promote adventure tourism at the scenic George Everest Estate near Mussoorie, attracting three bidders.

Interestingly, all three companies that bid for the contract had a common majority shareholder, Acharya Balkrishna, an investigation by The Indian Express revealed. Balkrishna is the co-founder and managing director of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, a consumer goods company worth ₹6,199 crore, and Baba Ramdev's longtime loyal aide.

The project involved developing 142 acres of land with facilities like parking, pathways, a helipad, five wooden huts, a café, two museums, and an observatory for an annual concession fee of ₹1 crore.

According to company documents, among the three bidders, Balkrishna owns more than 99% of Prakriti Organics India Pvt Ltd and Bharuwa Agri Science Pvt Ltd. In the third firm, Rajas Aerosports and Adventures Pvt Ltd, he began with a 25.01% investment at the bidding stage and gradually built up a majority ownership of 69.43% months after the tender was awarded.

Prakriti Organics and Bharuwa Agri Science, two enterprises that bid alongside Rajas Aerosports, bought 17.43% of the company in October 2023. Separately, Balkrishna's four companies - Bharuwa Agro Solution, Bharuwa Solutions, Fit India Organic, and Patanjali Revolution - bought 33.25% of Rajas Aerosports and Adventures, the report added.

The award appears to contradict the categorical undertaking signed by the bidders, which stated that they had not acted in concert or collusion with other bidders.

The tender instructions on disqualification and termination also provide that if the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) concludes that the operator "has engaged in corrupt or fraudulent practices in competing for or executing the contract," the contract may be cancelled.

Uttarakhand tourism officials, however, claim that the process was transparent and that the tender was open to all.

Amit Lohani, deputy director of the adventure tourism wing of the Tourism Department, told The Indian Express that the annual rent was ₹1 crore. “The tender was open, and anyone could participate. This is not an unusual matter that some have shareholding in other companies," Lohani added. He also mentioned that the project has generated over ₹5 crore in GST for the state in two years, aside from the lease amount.

Col Ashvini Pundir, UTDB's Additional CEO (Adventure Sports) at the time of the tender, stated, “It is not collusion because these companies are independent entities. We do not go for a witch hunt of companies and their backgrounds. You just give the highest bidder the tender, and the bottom line is the company is valid and legal.”

The company's spokesperson denied allegations of collusion, stating that the company raised funding from a “diverse set of investors over the years (but) all strategic, operational, and management decisions of the company are solely taken by its founders and managing director”. “It is factually incorrect and misleading to equate passive shareholding by an investor with collusion,” it added.

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