Question : Production of Ayurvedic Medicines

(a) whether the Government has formulated any national policy for production of Ayurvedic medicines and if so, the details thereof;
(b) the annual demand and production of raw materials like herbs and other substances required for Ayurvedic medicines indicating the percentage of raw material received from farmers and forests separately, State/UT-wise;
(c) whether raw materials for manufacturing Ayurvedic medicines is being imported and if so, the details thereof including quantum of import during last three years, country-wise;
(d) whether there is any proposal for its procurement from tribal areas in view of its abundant availability, if so, the details thereof and if not, whether such a proposal will be considered in future;
(e) whether the Government has any policy to procure these ingredients from the farmers with a view to double their income; and
(f) if so, whether the Government has entered into any agreement/understanding with the farmers/organizations and if so, the details thereof?

THE MINISTER OF AYUSH
(SHRI SARBANANDA SONOWAL)

(a) to (f): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *326 FOR
25th MARCH, 2022

(a): No specific National Policy for production of Ayurvedic Medicines is formulated since the requirements for their production is well placed in the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules, 1945. As per the said rules, it is mandatory for the manufacturer of Ayurvedic drugs to obtain licence from the concerned State Licensing Authority (SLA), after complying to the requirements of Schedule-T of the Drug Rules, 1945 pertaining to “Good manufacturing practices for Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani drugs” wherein all the requirements from location, premises, building, machinery, technical manpower, etc. as required for setting up an ASU manufacturing unit are laid down.

Under National Ayush Mission (NAM) from 2014-2021, apart from other services Grant-in-aid were also being provided for Strengthening of State Government ASU&H Pharmacies. Further, Central Sector Scheme for AyushOushadhiGunavattaevamUttpadanSamvardhanYojana (AOGUSY)has been implemented for the year 2021-2026. One of the components of the scheme is Strengthening and up-gradation of Ayush Pharmacies to achieve higher standards.

(b): There are already 7345 licensed Ayurvedic drugs manufacturing units in the country (as on 1-4-2019). Most of the manufacturing units are under the private management and few are under public sector. Based on orders, requirement, quantum of production, raw materials and herbs are being procured by them. Such separate data of demand and production of raw materials for Ayurvedic medicines is not maintained in the Ministry of Ayush. However, as per demand and supply study conducted by Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) supported by National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) entitled “Medicinal Plants in India: An Assessment of their Demand and Supply” published in 2017, the annual demand of herbs/ medicinal plants in the country was estimated about 5,12,000 Metric Tons.
Further, as per this study, about 1178 medicinal plant species were recorded in practices of trade, out of which 242 species are traded in high volume with an estimate of more than 100MT per annum.Analysis of the major supply source of the 242 species reveals that herbal raw drugs pertaining to more than 85% of medicinal plant species used in classical Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani (ASU) formulations continue to be sourced from the wild. The list of 242 Medicinal Plant Species wild collected/ cultivated/ imported for main use as herbal raw drugs is available at https://nmpb.nic.in/publications.
(c): Separate data of import of raw materials for manufacturing Ayurvedic medicines is not maintained.

(d) to (f): In order to provide a platform for trade of Medicinal Plants & to provide easy market access, National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of Ayush has launched “e-CHARAK” mobile application as well as web portal for the promotion and marketing of medicinal plants/herbs. “e-CHARAK” is a platform to enable information exchange between various stakeholders mainly farmers involved in the medicinal plants sector across the country. The “e-CHARAK” application supports different local languages and it also provides fortnightly market price of 100 Medicinal Plants from 25 herbal markets across India.

Further, Ministry of Ayush under medicinal plants component of Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National AYUSH Mission (NAM) had provided financial assistance in the form of subsidy to encourage the farmers for cultivation of medicinal plants throughout the country from the F.Y. 2015-16 to 2020-21. The cultivation activities were implemented through the identified implementing agency of concerned State as per the approved State Annual Action Plan. Till date, Ministry of Ayush has supported 56,305 hectare area under cultivation of 84 medicinal plant species, out of 140 prioritised medicinal plants throughout the country from the financial year 2015-16 to 2020-21. The State-wise detail of area covered under cultivation is given at
Annexure –I. The detail of 84 medicinal plants species supported under NAM scheme is given at Annexure – II.