If India gets its act together, it can become a major player in the global market for herbal product-based medicines. With a "grand strategic plan", Exports of herbal materials and medicines can shoot to Rs 10,000 crore by 2010 from the Rs. 446 crore in mid-2003. The international market for such plants is more than $60 billion a year, and growing at a rate of seven per cent. Within the country, these could well provide affordable healthcare and conserve biodiversity. Some 700-plant species are tapped regularly, in particular by the Rs. 1,500 crore strong Ayurveda industry.

Well-meaning regulatory efforts by the government, including a negative list of exports in endangered herbal products made in 1994, have failed to get off the mark. While the current Ayurvedic drugs market was about Rs. 50,000 crore in the global herbal market, it is expected to be worth Rs. 250,000 crore by 2010.

Given its rich heritage in traditional knowledge, India could make a successful entry and have a good share in the world market.

Currently India's share in the Ayurveda market is only 5 per cent and there exists immense scope for expanding its share in the world market from the present level of Rs. 4000 crore. But, it is a sad reflection that while it had the knowledge, skill and resource, India neglected the opportunities in the global market. ISM (Indian System of Medicine) has survived the onslaught of competition and neglect, but is languishing due to lack of adequate care.

It exists in large unorganised networks and a survival strategy for the languishing sector could be to focus more on over the counter products, diversification into new products such as healthcare and beauty products.

Yoga and naturopathy is an upcoming service industry having good growth potential, but is lacking attention. Institutional support, especially educational and R & D facilities and hospitals exists, the quality needs upgradation.

With the global market growing at a much faster rate than the domestic market, the ISM market needs to orient itself to cater to the export needs. For the sector to thrive, CII has underlined setting up of a specialised agency for export promotion that will give an impetus to exports. The industry needs a massive drive for development and modernisation for the mainstream market.

There should be a two-phased approach to promoting Indian system of medicines abroad.

Hardly any Indian product available is in standardized form, which is the minimum requirement for introducing a product in the Western market. Standardisation involves ensuring that the product is efficacious, safe and has physicochemical range falling within an acceptable band. To generate and obtain a commercial niche in the international arena in existing scenario requires the formulation and execution of pragmatic strategy.

Thus in future India shall have to develop knowledge-based products. Thus knowledge needs to be integrated in traditional products to generate superior knowledge based products. These will result in better definition of the existing products, improved understanding of the mechanism of their action, modified composition at molecular level and better understanding of interaction among various molecules.

Strategies for export

- To develop special preparations either as single molecules or of multiple molecules which themselves are not participating.
- To make existing preparation, trimmer and molecular defined.
- To search for entirely new herbal preparation based on plants not mentioned in Ayurvedic literature i.e. the preparations based.
- To investigate synergy amongst various fractions of extracts.
- To develop specific preparation which accelerate recovery after suffering from debilitating disease.
- To develop specific detoxifiers.

Much Ayurvedic and related knowledge is also in oral tradition, which is yet to be documented. Folk medicines, tribal medicines and home remedies in India have roots in Ayurveda, and need documentation, protection and propagation. Countries should have a national policy on traditional medicine as part of the National health policy and countries should develop and utilize traditional Medicine in a meaningful manner in the national health care system.

Commercialisation of Ayurveda, the most dominant system of ISM, is about 100 years old. The oldest Ayurveda companies, which are the leading companies, even today, are Dabur Baidyanath, Dhoot Pappeswar, Zandu Aryavaidya Sala Zandu in Kotakkal in Kerala etc. These group were all established between 1890 and 1920. Prior to this, commercialisation of Ayurveda was decentralised, practiced in small and sustainable way by the physicians.