Will India become a global hub for traditional healing after AYUSH push?

Ever been to an Ayurvedic wellness centre in Kerala, one of those tranquil resorts in a tropical setting?
 
They offer treatments for everything – from depression to hair loss, in a way that they claim is holistic.
The effectiveness of these healing processes is difficult to gauge. But if their popularity with foreign nationals is anything to go by, people do believe that they help.

According to Kerala tourism, nearly 35 per cent of the foreign tourists who visit the state are repeat visitors seeking Ayurveda treatments. About 1.2 million international tourists visited Kerala in 2019.
Clearly, there is an economic opportunity here, and the government wants to ensure that India can tap into it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Wednesday that special visas would be offered to those coming to India to undergo AYUSH treatments.
He was inaugurating the Global AYUSH Investment and Innovation Summit in Gujarat. This decision is meant to boost medical tourism in traditional medicine.

India’s medical tourism sector in 2020 was estimated to be worth 5-6 billion dollars. AYUSH visas could push that number up.
Many of the factors that led to the success of medical tourism in India, from the quality of allied sectors such as hospitality to affordability, are likely to apply to medical tourism in traditional medicine too.
 
The industry is also well-placed to take advantage.
According to a report by Research and Information System for Developing Countries, AYUSH has seen its market size grow by 17 per cent between 2014 and 2020 to reach 18.1 billion dollars.
According to the report, the AYUSH industry was projected to reach 20.6 billion dollars in 2021 and 23.3 billion dollars in 2022.

Special visas weren’t the only measures announced either.
Prime Minister Modi also said that the government would soon launch an ‘AYUSH mark’ for standardisation and authentication of quality AYUSH products in the global market. As part of the initiative, farmers will be connected to better-managed supply chains for medicinal plants. And, technology will be used to vet these products before being given the standardisation mark.    

Till 2019, according to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, India’s share in the global export of herbs and herbal products was assessed to be only 120 billion dollars. When the ministry refers to herbs and herbal products, AYUSH products are also included.

However, there is also a serious challenge that India will have to overcome before it can become a global hub for traditional healing.  

Success will depend on ensuring that traditional Indian medicine meets global standards. This is vital since such systems have often come to be associated with frauds. So, a major question remains. Will India be able to establish the credibility of these traditional systems by reducing rampant quackery?