The AYUSH Sector in India

Syllabus: GS2/Governance 

In News

• Recently, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a slew of resources for AYUSH in the 2026-27 Union Budget. 
• India’s new free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union opened the door for Indian doctors and products to enter the European market more easily.

AYUSH Sector in India

• AYUSH encompasses traditional systems of medicine such as Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy. 
  • It includes clinics, wellness centers, research, herbal products, education, and holistic health practices. 
• India’s AYUSH sector is rapidly expanding, supported by increasing awareness, demand for natural therapies, and government initiatives to promote traditional medicine systems.
• It has witnessed significant growth in recent years, emerging as a prominent domain in terms of revenue and employment.

Institutional Framework and Key Initiatives

• National AYUSH Mission (NAM): Core policy instrument to integrate AYUSH into public healthcare through:
  • Co-location of AYUSH facilities in PHCs, CHCs, and district hospitals
  • Strengthening AYUSH infrastructure and human resources
• Institutes of National Importance: All India Institute of Ayurveda (New Delhi), National Institute of Homoeopathy (Kolkata) & Dedicated national institutes for Siddha, Unani, Yoga, and Naturopathy. 
• Regulatory and Research Bodies: Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), National Commission for Indian System of Medicine & National Commission for Homoeopathy.
• Medicinal Plant Promotion: National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) working with 32 State Boards to support quality cultivation, value chains, and exports.
• Flagship Schemes: AYURGYAN (Education and capacity building), Ayurswasthya Yojana (Community health and preventive care using AYUSH systems).
• In the 2026-27 budget, its total allocation reached ₹4,408 crore, up from ₹3,992 crore in 2025-26 and ₹2,122 crore in 2020-21.
• It also announced plans to set up three new All India Institutes of Ayurveda intended to be the gold standard for traditional medicine, similar to how AIIMS works for scientific medicine. 
• The budget also pitched for funds to upgrade the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre in Jamnagar, with the aim of India leading the way in setting standards for how traditional medicine should be practiced and documented worldwide.
• The budget for the National AYUSH Mission has been hiked by 66% to ₹1,300 crore, to modernise local AYUSH hospitals and dispensaries, to place AYUSH clinics inside existing modern hospitals, and to upgrade existing centres to focus on preventive health. The budget also provides funds to upgrade AYUSH pharmacies and drug-testing laboratories.
• The government is also introducing a multilingual AI assistant named Bharat-VISTAAR, designed to give farmers who grow medicinal plants real-time advice on growing herbs of better quality, current market prices, and certifying crops for export.

Role of India–EU FTA in Boosting AYUSH

• The India–EU FTA provides strategic advantages to the AYUSH sector:
  • Easier mobility for Indian AYUSH practitioners without degree-recognition barriers
  • Legal certainty for Indian wellness and Ayurveda businesses across all 27 EU nations
  • Mutual recognition of laboratory testing and safety certifications
  • Protection of India’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) from biopiracy.

Importance of AYUSH

• Promotes preventive, personalised, and holistic healthcare, complementing modern medicine
• Expands India’s soft power and cultural diplomacy
• Boosts wellness tourism and herbal medicine exports
• Generates livelihoods for farmers cultivating medicinal plants
• Enhances India’s role in global health governance.

Challenges

• Limited infrastructure and skilled manpower in some regions
• Lack of uniform treatment protocols and standardisation
• Quality control and safety concerns in herbal medicines
• Criticism over unvalidated treatments and practices such as mixopathy
• Need for stronger clinical trials and evidence-based validation to gain global trust.

Conclusion and Way Forward 

• The AYUSH sector is a key part of India’s healthcare and cultural heritage, offering affordable and preventive solutions. 
• With rising global demand, it can serve as a wellness model and economic driver, but integration, scientific validation, and regulation challenges must be addressed through strong policy, research, and innovation to balance tradition with modern science.

Source :TH