Annual Ayurvedic Medicine Production in India

Ayurveda evolved around 600 B.C. in India and is a system of holistic medicine that is based on eliminating toxic imbalances from the body. Basically, it treats the whole well-being of the patient, not just the ailment, under the primary tenet that health is not merely the absence of disease but the overall state of physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being. The commercial production and sale of Ayurvedic products as a modern industry is around 100 years old, and India's annual production of Ayurvedic medicines is estimated to be approximately US$ 1 billion.

Main Players

World Gold Council

Presently, India contributes less than 1% to the global herbal market; however, it is fast emerging as a key supplier of medicinal plants across the globe. The manufacture and marketing of Ayurvedic medicine has been commercially successful for several pharmaceutical companies, including Arya Vaidya Sala and IMIS Pharmaceuticals, which have patented their own formulas.
Ayurvedic medicine production in India is dominated for three companies that produce about 85% of the Indian domestic market: Dabur, Baidyanath, and Zandu. However, there are around 30 other companies that produce US$1 million or more in Ayurvedic products each year, including small pharmacies and family-owned enterprises that compound their own ingredients and guard their remedy recipes closely.
But while Ayurveda has traditionally been the province of home remedies and naturalist producers, like everything in India, Ayurvedic products are going increasingly high-tech.

Production of Ayurvedic Products

Herbal Remedies & Treatments

World Health Organization statistics support the popularity of traditional medicine the world over and the significant percentage of the world's population that depends on such treatments for their primary health care.
Ayurveda is used to holistically treat the entire physical and psychological well-being of the patient. Products include those for skin, hair, anxiety and depression, male and female ailments, brain, liver and kidney functions (as well as treatments for other internal organs), digestion and metabolism, stress, sexual issues, immunity and as general cosmetics. Many plant parts go into the making of Ayurvedic products, including the stem, seeds, roots, fruits, fruit rind, resin, bulbs and rhizomes. Vegetable, mineral and herbal products are also used, the most common of which are cardamom, cinnamon, sulfur and even gold.

History

Institute for Traditional Medicine

Baidyanat, founded in 1917, is one of the leading companies in the Indian Ayurvedic industry. Baidyanath established the Pt. Ram Dayal Joshi Memorial Ayurvedic Research Institute at Patna in 1971 and gives a prize money award every year for the best research paper or book on Ayurveda. Baidyanat manufactures more than 700 products in ten centers throughout India, with 1,600 employees and over 10,000 distributors. The company also runs a leading school of Ayurveda, and 5 free clinics serving over 300 patients each day.
Zandu is another major player in the Ayurveda market. Its origins go back to 1864, when a philanthropist and famous physician from Jamnagar, nicknamed Zandu, began making products for his personal practice. Later his grandson, Shri Jugatram Vaidya, inspired by the tradition, opened a pharmacy to manufacture and market Zandu's ayurvedic products. Using as many as 200 medicinal plants and their extracts, Zandu produces over 300 products.

The Industry Today

In 1970, the Indian Medical Central Council Act was passed to standardize qualifications for Ayurveda and provide accredited institutions for its study and research. Today, more than a hundred colleges around the country offer degree programs in traditional Ayurvedic medicine.
The state-sponsored Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha (CCRAS) is the primary institution for traditional medicine in India and has conducted studies on ayurvedic elixirs, ingredients and results. Within India, such traditional, over-the-counter remedies remain the most popular, accounting for almost 70% of medicinal products sold in the country, with 30% being prescription drugs. The herbal and ayurvedic market in India is predicted to continue to grow at a rate of 12 to 15% per year.

The Future of Ayurveda

The future for Ayurvedic practice is bright, according to the American Academy of Ayurvedic Medicine, but needs the the proper support of public and private partnerships such as the Indian government, health ministry, elite Ayurvedic institutions and academic institutions in India and the U.S. AAAM states that "In order for Ayurveda to be recognized as a proper health care discipline, there is a need of well-trained practitioners and clinicians trained in the Indian sub-continent, Europe and the U.S. Ayurveda is supported by historical information and forms the basis of many Eastern and Western health care disciplines. In spite of Ayurveda being a prime healing science, it has suffered great deal of neglect and discrimination by various internal and external forces in India and abroad. It has not achieved its proper position and recognition as a health science due to a lack of proper infrastructure, clinical and academic support."

References

• American Academy of Ayurvedic Medicine
• Institute for Traditional Medicine
• Pharma Info