The Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of AYUSH will be setting up an Export Promotion Council to boost AYUSH exports. This is an effort to achieve price and quality competitiveness to boost AYUSH exports.
Shripad Naik, Minister of AYUSH said trade and commerce in the ministry needed to upscale quickly to meet the growing demands from India and abroad, and to serve the larger number of people who are now looking up to these systems for maintaining their health. He recollected various steps taken by the Ministry during the pandemic to add protection to the people from the dreaded COVID-19. Naik highlighted that the AYUSH immunity protocols and the National Clinical Management Protocol for COVID-19 for Ayurveda and Yoga were timely interventions which provided relief to large sections of the population. Moreover, the emerging evidence of a correlation between the low COVID-19 mortality rates and large scale adoption of AYUSH prophylactic solutions by the population is significant for the public health practice in the country.
Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry, acknowledged the frontline role played by AYUSH sector in the fight against COVID-19. He said the protection offered by the AYUSH systems to the common people during the pandemic time neutralized the sceptism that many people had about the efficacy of the medicines and products offered by these systems. The spurt in exports of AYUSH products in the recent months is a direct reflection of their growing popularity in many countries. The standardization of the HS codes related to export will be considered a priority as a step to promote exports.
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Goyal called upon the AYUSH ministry to work in coordination with the Commerce and Finance Ministries to achieve this early. He also advised the industry leaders to work simultaneously on the quality and pricing of their products. As such, they can become increasingly competitive in the global market. Goyal supported the concept of an AYUSH Export Promotion Council. He said the continued support of the Commerce Ministry would be available to the AYUSH Sector on all matters of trade promotion, and special meetings with the functionaries of the ministry would be arranged as and when required.
