Who offers you the cheapest annual prepaid pack? It's not Reliance Jio; clap loudly for Baba Ramdev's Patanjali

The tariff war has intensified even more, if that is possible, among telecom service providers! The latest to grab attention would be annual plans, which are cheap and give you heavy data and unlimited calls for the whole year. This competition, to nobody’s surprise has been stirred by Reliance Jio. The Mukesh Ambani led company has launched an annual plan of Rs 1,699 which is seen as cheapest among telcos. That was until BSNL fought back by launching similar annual recharge pack but offering more data compared to RJio. Well, BSNL plan is a bumper offer,  which is seen to get over by January 2019, RJio will continue with its Rs 1,699 plan. But while everyone is lured by RJio’s annual plan, there is a new lion in town which can definitely outrun RJio. 

If you thought, RJio is giving you cheapest annual plan, then meet Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali, which offers you the cheapest annual plan. Yes, it has become nearly seven months old now, and if for once you thought that Patanjali king would be forgotten in telecom sector than you are wrong. 

RJio’s new unlimited annual plan at Rs 1699 entitles users to unlimited data (1.5 GB / day of high speed data), Unlimited voice calls, 100 SMS/ day, as well as access to a host of Jio Premium apps comprising JioTV JioCinema, JioMusic, JioMags, among others.

Giving stiff competition to RJio, BSNL recently announced to give additional 2.2GB extra data on its bumper recharge packs of Rs 1,699 and Rs 2,099. This means now customer will enjoy reportedly 4.21GB/day data with the STV-1699, and 6.21GB/day with the STV-2099 recharge. 

Earlier, BSNL's Rs 1,699 plan gives massive 2GB data per day for a period of 365 days. This means you enjoy 730GB for a year. Once the FUP limit is over, a user will only get to access the data at a speed of 80 kbps. 

Coming to Rs 2,099 plan, it offers 4GB data per day for 365 days. With this, a customer gets a whopping 1,460GB data for a year. 

Under these two plan, customers are also given unlimited local, STD and national roaming calling facility. One will also enjoy 100 SMS daily.

However, BSNL’s annual plan is only available till January 2019. 

But yet the cheapest offer remains in the hand of Patanjali, which has already disrupted the FMCG sector, and is keen on hampering further telecom industry. Here’s why! 

Patanjali leader Baba Ramdev introduced his Swadeshi Samriddhi SIM card in alliance with state-owned telecom service provider BSNL. To lure customers even more, now Ramdev has launched various discounts and cashback offers under his latest card encouraging them to opt for more of this.

The data pack, named Patanjali BSN - 144, gives free unlimited voice calls, no roaming charges, 2GB data per day and 100 SMS per day. This offer will be available in denominations of 3 namely Rs 144 pack for 30 days, Rs 792 pack for 180 days and Rs 1,584 for 365 days.  

That means, you enjoy 2GB data per day on Patanjali sim card for a year at just Rs 1,584. 

When Patanjali announced the new sim card in alliance with BSNL on May 27, 2018, there were host of terms and conditions announced. 

At first, BSNL tweeted saying that, BSNL-Patanjali BSN – 144 Plan is available for members of Patanjali organisations like Bharat Swabhiman Nyas, Patanjali Yog Samiti, Mahila Prakostha, Yuva Bharat, Patanjali Kisan Seva and Patanjali Swadeshi Samriddhi cardholders.

But the state-owned company also added that, the subscribers who are not members of Patanjali family can also subscriber and buy Swadeshi Samridhi. These customers can produce the same to buy BSN Patanjali 144 plan. 

This means Patanjali’s sim card is practically available for all. 

The card also comes with the medical and life insurance covers of Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, respectively.

Hence, all hail to  Baba Ramdev, he definitely knows how to offer cheap and heavy. It would be interesting to see how Patanjali and RJio compete against each other in coming years!