The exports of medicinal plants from India have registered around 20 per cent growth in the last financial year and the country is the second largest exporter of herbal plants after China in the global arena, nearly doubling the volume in the last five years.
The total value of medicinal plants export from the country was Rs 594.77 crore during the year of 2008-09, making a growth of 19.3 per cent over the previous year, according to official sources. The Centre, through the Department of Ayush has initiated different schemes to maintain the growth in this sector, sources added.
As per the provisional data available, the country’s share in the export of medicinal plants and herbs in the global market during the current financial year is Rs 685.14 crore. According to latest global index by a United Nation’s agency, Indian share in the global market stood at 8.13 per cent. However, it is way below the share of its competitor China which commands about 28 per cent share. The exports of herbs during the year of 2007-08 brought home Rs 470.73 crore against Rs 377.02 crore during 2006-07. The same was Rs 307.02 crore during 2005-06 and Rs 293.63 crore during 2004-05.
Sources said the AYUSH department has already started implementing the recommendations made by a task force under the Commerce Department on `strategy for increasing exports of pharmaceutical products’ with regard to the cultivation and promotion of herbals in the country.
National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) is implementing a new 'centrally sponsored scheme of national mission on medicinal Plants' with a total outlay of Rs 630 crore during the 11th Plan. The scheme aims at supporting market driven cultivation of medicinal plants prioritized on the basis of their demand in the Ayush and herbal industry. The scheme is being implemented in a mission mode in selected clusters through growers’ cooperatives, self help groups, producer companies, etc with backward and forward linkages for nurseries, post-harvest management, marketing and quality certification, sources added.
Source : pharmabiz.com