Ayurveda consortium to set up Rs 33 crore R&D lab

In an effort to boost export of Ayurveda products and promoting the Kerala brand, a consortium of Ayurveda industries, 'Care Keralam' will soon set up Rs 33 crore Research and Development laboratory and other facilities at Koratty in Thrissur district for scientific validation of ayurvedic herbal drugs.

'Care Keralam', a tripartite venture between the Centre, Kerala government, and Ayurveda industry, was expecting about Rs 25 crore this month from the Government of India under the IIU (Industrial Infrastrcture Upgradation) project of the Ministry of commerce. As soon as it is received, work of the laboratory will commence, P R Krishna Kumar, managing director, Kerala Arya Vaidya Pharmacy (coimbatore) and Joy Varghese, CEO and technical director of the project, said.

The laboratory is expected to be ready in a year's time. Krishna Kumar said the lab was a long felt need. Lack of documented validation of products, quality control procedures and documented process of validation were the bottlenecks for exports. There was batch to batch variation in products, its toxicity profile could not be explained and its efficacy had not been scientifically proved and documented.

The lab will perform all modern formulations and product validation studies and will have a carbon dioxide extraction plant, tablet and blistering machines.

Other facilities envisaged are a common facility centre for speciality production and packaging, a common raw material sourcing centre and mini laboratory, accelerated electron irradiation centre are also being planned.

Joy said efforts would be made to prepare a dossier to set standards for ayurveda formulations and to do safety studies.

Discussions had been held with the Chattishgarh forest minister to procure herbs from Chattishgarh. "They are ready. But we need to have a storage facilty before procurement."

Pointing out that many were interested in herbal cultivations, he said about 60 NRIs have formed a cooperative society for herbs cultivation at Kozhikode.

Joy said the common facility for production and packaging centre would have a pouch filling machine, spray drying and granule making machine, carbon dioxide extraction unit for commercial production and high profile tableting, soft gel capsuling machines, among others. This would also have a common centre for quality certification, bench marking and international marketing support centres.

It will also have a data centre for patent protection, GMP (Good Manufacturing Practises) training and technology transfer.

This cluster development infrastructure project for the Ayurveda industry is a project under the department of Ayush of the Union ministery of health.

While the Ayurvedic industry association will be pumping in Rs 5.5 crore, the Kerala Infrastructure Development Authority (KINFRA) and Kerala Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) are together expected to contribute about Rs 2.7 crore and the Central government Rs 25 crore.

This effort will help to increase exports of Ayurvedic drugs, upgrade ayurvedic drugs and cosmetic manufacturers to compete in the international market. There were also plans to set up overseas marketing support and offshore marketing offices in the US, Europe and Middle- East, Joy said.

While the world herbal products market is estimated to be $62 billion, with an annual growth rate of seven per cent, the Indian herbal industry's pie is around Rs 4,205 crore. Export of Ayurvedic drugs and allied herbal products is estimated to be about Rs 440 crore.

Kerala, which boasts a turnover of Rs 400 crore, was exporting only products worth less than Rs 40 crore. Only 56 of the 900 registered ayurvedic industries have so far become members of the consortium, formed a year ago.