 "Government plans uplift for herbal medicines")
The idea is to help the herbal drug manufacturing industry and to raise its export revenue to the same high level as exists for allopathic medicines.
The department of ayurveda, yoga & naturopathy, unani, siddha and homoeopathy in the Union health ministry is set to commission a detailed study by a market research agency or consultant. It will assess demand and supply for medicinal plants in India and in international markets, update the data on cultivation of such plants, the land available and required, and the data on production.
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"We have invited an expression of interest from consultants or market research institutions to undertake this detailed study and survey. The proposals will reach us within 21 days and then, within a month, we will evaluate and commission the study," a senior official told Business Standard.
The National Medicinal Plant Board is to oversee the project. It will then create a policy framework based on the data, to provide the needed infrastructure, incentives and other mechanisms. Later, the government might consider creating special economic zones to promote the sector.
Companies such as Himalaya, Zandu, Charak and Dabur are likely to benefit; so will smaller entities and cultivators of herbal plants. The official said the terms of reference for the study, to be commissioned soon, would include inputs from all of them and other stakeholders. "The terms of reference will include evaluating various business and licensing models, as well as agreements between major companies and farmers of herbal plants," the official said.
A major block, said the official, was the lack of an organised market and industry for herbal medicines. This discourages cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants. "Incentivising and facilitating production, an effective licensing system and proper data and mechanism will push up exports of herbal material and medicines," said the official.
Experts say India is rich in a recorded and well-practiced knowledge of traditional herbal medicine, along with huge reserves of herbal plants. However, it has not capitalised enough on this. "There is a need to identify products based on diseases for which no (allopathic) medicine or only palliative therapy is available," says an expert. He added backward integration keeping in mind the demand and then working out supplies to cater for this would pay rich dividends.
It is difficult to quantify the market for traditional Indian systems of medicines, as many practitioners formulate and dispense their own recipes. Even so, annual turnover of products manufactured by large companies is estimated at around $300 million a year. There appear to be about 250,000 registered medical practitioners of the ayurvedic system, for one.
According to a study conducted in 2008 by industry body Assocham, there are around 700 plant species commonly used in India. However, 90 per cent of the medicinal plants used by the industry are collected from the wild. Experts also say India has a total of around 45,000 plant species. Of these, at least 4,500 are of medicinal value.
India, after China, is the largest producer of medicinal plants. The top export destinations for Indian herbal medicines include America, Britain, Germany, Japan and Spain.
In recent years, there has been a significant upsurge in the industrial demand for medicinal plant resources, due to the worldwide buoyancy in the sector engaged in production of herbal health care formulations, herbal-based cosmetic products and herbal nutritional supplements, the official said.