Ayurveda witnesses global resurgence; Market size to touch 8 billion dollars by 2022: Shripad

New Delhi: Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik on Monday said a threefold increase in market size of Ayurvedic products from 2.5 billion to 8 billion dollars is envisioned by 2022.

Speaking at the Ayurveda Conclave organized by the Ministry of AYUSH and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said: “Ayurveda is witnessing a resurgence in India and around the globe. It advocates preventive healthcare methods of treatment; it is not a system of medicine, but a science of life and longevity.”

The AYUSH Ministry was established in 2014 to promote indigenous healing systems and its priorities include education, standardization of drugs, and enhancement of availability of raw materials, R&D, communications and larger involvement in the national system for delivering healthcare.

“The government has already begun work on building AIIMS like facilities for Ayurveda across India. To converge the research approach of AYUSH systems with the modern system of medicine, the Ministry of AYUSH and Indian Council of Medicinal Research have decided to have molecular-based studies on specific leads from the Ministry,” observed Mr Naik.

Dr Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH, said, “We have to look at research integration and teaching.” Entrepreneurs must leverage the huge demand for Ayurveda, he added, noting that GST has been brought down to 5 percent to encourage the sectors.

The healthcare market in India is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23 percent from 2015 to 2020 and is expected to be a 280 billion dollar market by 2020.

Shobana Kamineni, President, CII & Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospital Enterprise, noted that only 10 percent of the Indian population goes to Ayurvedic centres. “Ayurveda’s rich heritage and recognition as an alternative system of medicine in developed countries provides a good foundation to set an ambitious growth goal defined by increasing by market share, customer access, and profitability in both India and global markets,” she said.