The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) in association with the government of Andhra Pradesh and department of Ayush is soon expected to meet the stakeholders from the Unani industry in the state, to discuss on the possibility of boosting the exports of Unani products. This will be the first time that the government along with pharmexcil will be taking such an initiative which is aimed at promoting the growth of this segment separately.

The main aim behind this meeting will be to understand the dynamics of the industry by thorough analysis to generate a detailed database of the same for further references. This they plan to achieve through regular interaction with the stakeholders so as to get current updates on the trends in the industry, their issues etc. Focus will be given on developing a symbiotic relation with the Unani stakeholders so as to help them in further strengthening their goal for boosting Unani exports.

Dr P V Appaji, director general (DG), Pharmexcil, said, “After understanding the growing market demand for the Unani products at the international market, we felt that there is a need to recognise this sector more aptly to further explore its export potential. Till now, we have never conducted a national level meeting for this industry separately, due to which we unfortunately do not have much updated data on this segment. So our main focus right now is to have discussions with the stakeholders from across the country starting with AP so that we can understand their problems and take steps to address them while generating data for their potential export market.”

He further informed that following the proceedings of this meet they may also arrange similar interaction with the Unani manufacturers and exporters across the country to get a clear idea on their market dynamics. According to Pharmexcil, Unani products have a huge market demand in the Arab countries especially in Dubai. Interestingly this will be the first ever initiative aimed at recognising the growth of this segment which till now have been ignored and slagging behind due to lack of any proactive government initiative taken to boost this industry.

This initiative comes a step towards highlighting and recognising the importance of the Unani medicines as a separate entity so as to explore the growth prospects of this sector for its full potential. According to Pharmexcil, India is exporting herbal and ayush products including Unani worth over Rs. 1186.19 crore with one per cent share of total pharma exports to various regions and among them, top five export destinations are Latin America, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), European Union (EU), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Middle East and ASEAN countries. Interestingly, India is the second largest country in the export of medicinal plants to the world next to China.