Global Ayurveda Summit in Kochi from 21st to 23rd November

The Global Ayurveda Summit, aimed at scaling up entrepreneurship in existing businesses and encouraging start-ups in Ayurveda will be held at the Hotel Le Meridien in Kochi for three days from November 21st until November 23rd. 

S Sajikumar, CII Kerala Chairman and MD of Dhatri Ayurveda Pvt Ltd, said that it is important for the stakeholders in Ayurveda to realise the growth potential in areas like healthcare, lifestyle, medicine manufacturing, exports and tourism. “It is time to position India as a global Ayurveda hub since the field is witnessing a resurgence in India and the world,” he said. The event would open with a keynote address by Sudhanshu Pandey, Additional Secretary, Union Ministry of Commerce and Industries, on November 21, he added at a press conference held on Monday.

A study done by the Confederation of Indian Industry on the market size of the Indian Ayurveda industry, its strengths and the way forward, shows that as much as 75% of the $4 billion Indian Ayurveda market is accounted for by Ayurveda products and only a quarter of the market size is contributed by services. “We need to brand Ayurveda. Strengthening intellectual property rights will help. Though we have 40,000 formulations there are just 200 patents from India,” Sajikumar said. The challenges in the Ayurveda sector pointed out by the CII study are the shortage of manpower and shortage of quality raw materials.

A major attraction of the global Ayurveda summit will be the Ayurstart, an Ayurveda start-up competition to attract young minds to come up with out-of-the-box ideas in this sector. “We need to integrate modern technology into Ayurveda and develop new apps,” said Ajay George Varghese, convenor of Ayurveda panel for the summit and the managing director of Bipha Drug Laboratories P Ltd. The panel has shortlisted 10 young start-up entrepreneurs for mentoring and incubation and funding by the industry.