In order to enhance employment prospects for science graduates from the botany, agriculture, microbiology, zoology streams respectively in the Ayurveda industry, Industrial Training Institute of Maharashtra Ayurved Center Pvt Ltd (MAC) is planning to launch short term courses of 30 to 60 days.

This will equip students on identification, grading, cultivation, post-harvesting methodologies along with training on legal and FDA licensing aspects thus enabling them to seek placements directly in the industry. This is a significant development as MAC Pune has recently received Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) recognition as Industrial Training Institute to start fellowship courses this year at the MAC Pune Ayush cluster.

MAC based at Kolewadi, Pune houses a dedicated raw material processing centre for supply of standardised, graded, certified and processed raw materials in bulk to the ayurvedic manufacturers across the state.

Informs Dr Sunita Belgamwar, chairperson, MAC Pune Ayush industry cluster, "The need for skill development training centers which are accredited and offering certified courses is the need of the hour. It is vital for the wellness industry to meet growth projections. Meanwhile, the industry has seen good interest from private equity and venture capital firms since March 2009. The basic knowledge related to the cultivation, harvesting, storage, packaging and marketing of these plants is required along with processing techniques for various dosage forms to produce finished goods."

To fulfill global demand and attain leadership role in various markets, there is a need to focus on high quality raw material, drugs and skilled manpower of Ayurveda traditional systems of medicine. There is also a need to control and maintain quality in accordance with latest international GMP and GLP concepts. This will require highly qualified technologists and operators of this branch to fulfill the need for industrial skill training. Institution exclusively catering to industry based skill development programmes are urgently needed to capitalise this global opportunity.

The past decade has witnessed a tremendous surge of interest in ayurvedic/herbal medicine throughout the world. The current global herbal trade as traditional medicine (TM) is upto $90-100 billion. TM usage is growing every year by 20 to 30 per cent in many countries. The global use of herbs and herbal supplements as TM is approximately 40 per cent by an individual in some or the other way. The industry is expected to attain a value of US$ 5 trillion by 2050. (WHO report). Wellness industry in India is poised to touch Rs. 1 trillion this year, with a compounded annual growth rate of 15 to 17 per cent, from about Rs. 70,000 crore in 2012. Exports are also seeing year on year steady growth. Wellness services in India are projected to generate more than three million jobs, reported by FICCI and PWC.