Doing well to public health should be the priority; money making becomes secondary- Anurag Sharma

Ayurveda has been a part of our traditions since time immortal. It has only grown better with the passage of time and as people wake up to the harsh realities of chemical products, Ayurveda industry is set to climb the ladder o9f development and prosperity. Ina conversation with Mr Anurag Sharma, Executive Director, Shree Baidyanath Ayurved Bhawan Pvt. Ltd, he tells us the future of the Ayurveda industry and the ideologies which keep Baidyanath going strong.

How has Baidyanath sustained itself for so many years?
We’ve been around for nearly 100 years. Baidyanath is primarily driven by a passion for Ayurveda. We are actually the largest publishers for Ayurvedic books, largest collaborators with Ayurvedic colleges. We offer scholarships and sponsorships and internships. Running the company has always been the passion for doing well to public health, making money becomes secondary. The passion in the family has always been to do good which is to keep your original knowledge intact, innovate and deliver.

How does the future of Ayurveda look like?
When we look at Ayurveda, we find that the growth is not coming out so much of the medicinal part of it but out of the personal space which can be your hair care, skincare etc. People have finally started to realise that skin is one of the largest organs of the body and you really need to treat that right. So, they are going back to centuries-old knowledge and adapting it to current technology of delivering the products and stabilising it. Ayurveda was used to be made fresh at home and one could use it in Uptan, Lepam or one of those things. With the current technology, one can do the extractions, the safety profiles, the stability tests and deliver it in attractive packages which you can effectively use. That is where the personal space is going very fast and that is the space which we can now take abroad and globalise Ayurveda. Once the globalisation of Yog has already taken place, then the globalisation of Ayurveda becomes a lot easier because you already have the adherence across the world which belief in the Indian systems now.

What are some of the challenges that are being faced by Baidyanath?
We are basically faced with two major challenges. Domestically, you sometimes face the challenges of sourcing the right quality of raw material and making sure that it is free of all the contaminants by which I mean whether it is water pollution, soil pollution, insecticides or pesticides. So, getting the right source of raw material, handling it and the supply chain- once all these are taken care of, that is one of the biggest challenges. Abroad, what we face are the regulatory challenges where they really don’t understand the concept of Ayurveda. Educating them, utilising them and getting the government of India to be able to push, just like Chinese have done with traditional Chinese medicines and they have most of the world's government accept it. Once this is done, then there will be a huge amount of benefits towards Ayurveda and as well as mankind is concerned. The billions of dollars companies spend on insurances and national health schemes, those can be drastically reduced. One does not have to visit the doctors for every small issue wherein natural and homemade remedies can cure a person of the problem.

How is the government helping the Ayurveda industry?
This government has been a lot more pro-active and has a very good ministry which is called the Ayush ministry. They have made Yoga International and we are asking Dhanvantari Diwas be declared yoga day. The budgets have been increased and the government is very serious about spending money on research and standardisation. Once this happens and they are able to convince governments and our embassies to try and promote it there, then you can also have the same amount of permissions just as traditional Chinese medicines have. That means we will have access to those markets which helps the cultivator, producer, manufacturer and is a boon to the common people.