The Ministry of AYUSH and the Department of Commerce jointly convened an industry brainstorming session in New Delhi on 2 July 2025 to chart a strategic roadmap for elevating India's standing as a global leader in the AYUSH sector. The session, organised in collaboration with the AYUSH Export Promotion Council (AYUSHEXCIL), brought together exporters, manufacturers, MSMEs, and startups to identify actionable pathways across innovation, quality assurance, exports, and international collaboration.

Key Agenda and Focus Areas

Deliberations covered a wide range of priorities: leveraging India's expanding network of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), global branding of AYUSH products, export facilitation, WHO-GMP compliance, the Ayush Quality Mark, scientific validation, medical value travel, wellness services, and resolving regulatory and market access challenges. The breadth of the agenda signals a shift from ad hoc export promotion to a more structured, ecosystem-wide approach.

What the Government Said

Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal framed the government's ambition in clear terms: the objective, he said, was not merely to grow export volumes but to build globally competitive Indian AYUSH brands. Agrawal described the sector as a 'high-potential sunrise export sector' and urged industry players to prioritise innovation, value addition, and quality while capitalising on FTA-linked market openings. He also underscored the role of trade facilitators and ecosystem intermediaries in connecting Indian AYUSH products with international buyers, and confirmed that the Department of Commerce would sustain stakeholder outreach and capacity-building programmes in partnership with AYUSHEXCIL.

AYUSH Secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha called for faster implementation of flagship initiatives — specifically Ayush Mark and Ayurveda Aahar — to sharpen quality assurance and global competitiveness. He urged industry to improve product quality, packaging, and international market readiness to capitalise on rising global interest in Ayurveda and other traditional medicine systems. Kotecha also highlighted ongoing efforts to align Indian standards with international benchmarks, a prerequisite for wider regulatory acceptance abroad.

Industry and Parliamentary Voice

AYUSHEXCIL Chairman and Member of Parliament Dr. Anurag Sharma said India was well positioned to emerge as a trusted global hub for holistic healthcare, citing growing international acceptance of traditional medicine. He called for deeper collaboration among government, industry, and research institutions to drive scientific validation, quality assurance, and global branding — areas where India's AYUSH sector has historically lagged its commercial potential.

Ground-Level Inputs from Exporters and MSMEs

The session concluded with an interactive segment in which exporters, manufacturers, MSMEs, and startups shared on-the-ground perspectives on improving market access, easing regulatory compliance, and accelerating international collaboration. Participants flagged ease of doing business and regulatory facilitation as critical bottlenecks that must be addressed for India to convert its traditional knowledge base into sustained export earnings.

What Comes Next

The roadmap emerging from the session is expected to inform policy action across FTA negotiations, standards alignment, and export incentive design. This comes amid a broader global shift toward integrative and traditional medicine, which presents India — home to the world's most codified systems of Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy — a rare first-mover window. Whether the momentum from the brainstorming table translates into measurable export growth will depend on the speed and depth of implementation.