New Delhi: Exports of Ayush and herbal products have reported a growth of 20.33 per cent during the first month of the current fiscal year, at $51.44 million as compared to $42.75 million during the same month of previous fiscal year.
Exports during the month of April, in Rupee terms, have reported a 21 per cent growth, at Rs. 429.02 crore, as compared to Rs. 354.84 crore registered in the same month, last year.
In terms of quantity, the exports of Ayush and herbal products registered 31.7 per cent growth. The total exports during the month of April, 2024 was 9578.2 metric tonne as compared to 7272.8 metric tonne during the same period of previous fiscal year.
Imports of Ayush and herbal products declined almost 22.4 per cent in April, 2024, at $8.77 million as compared to $11.30 million during the same month a year ago, according to data from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S).
In Rupee terms, the imports reported a 22 per cent decline to Rs. 73.19 crore in April, 2024 from Rs. 93.81 crore in the same month of previous fiscal year.
In terms of quantity, the imports of Ayush and herbal products declined 10.11 per cent, to 6989.63 metric tonne as compared to 7776.08 metric tonne in the same period of previous fiscal year, according to data.
As reported earlier, India’s export of Ayush and herbal products has reported a growth of 3.6 per cent during the fiscal year 2023-24, at $651.17 million as compared to the same period of previous year, registering a below-five per cent growth for the second consecutive year.
The country reported exports of 10.63 crore kilograms of Ayush and herbal products during 2023-24, as compared to 12.25 crore kilograms of exports during the previous year.
In terms of value, it has gone up from $628.54 million in 2022-23. The year 2022-23 registered a growth of 2.68 per cent in exports, from $612.12 million in the previous year.
The country has seen exports shooting up in two years during the fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22, before reporting a lower growth rate, according to official data. During 2020-21, the sector registered a growth of 26.12 per cent growth in exports, to $539.88 million from $428.08 million exports reported during the previous year. The exports then reported a growth of 13.38 per cent in 2021-22, at $612.12 million, says data from the Centre.
The total Ayush export of India is around $1.54 billion (Rs. 11,400 crore), said the Ministry of Ayush in its recent report on the progress of the sector from 2014-2024. Presently, Ayurveda is recognized as a system of Traditional Medicine in more than 30 countries and Ayush and Herbal products or medicines are exported to more than 150 countries, says.
The herbal pharmaceutical or medicament sector constituted 35.2% of Ayush exports in 2020, while the extracts and nutraceuticals sector shared around 22% export share each in the total, whereas medicinal and aromatic plant recorded 19.9% export share, said Invest India, the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency. India exports Ayush products to markets such as the USA, Nepal, Russia, Philippines, UAE, Kenya, Germany, Vietnam, China, Italy, the UK, Western Europe, Japan, Hong Kong etc,.
The Ayush sector has grown 17% year on year between 2014 and 2020. The market size of the industry stands at $18.1 billion from $2.85 billion in 2014, clocking a phenomenal growth of almost 6 times. The sector is likely to generate nearly 3 million job opportunities, it said.
The Ministry of Ayush has established Ayush Export Promotion Council (Ayushexcil) to promote Ayush products and services globally by the Ministry of Ayush and supported by the Union ministry of commerce. It was officially launched at Global Ayush Investment and Innovation Summit held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on April 20, 2022, and aimed to oversee exports of products of Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Siddha, Sowa/Rigpa and Unani systems and address trade issues pertaining to these sectors.
