‘Foreigners are more inclined towards Ayurveda’

Ashok Kumar of Expressindia.com talks to one such entrepreneur, Purushotam Aggarwal, based out of NCR region.

How did you get into this business of Ayurvedic medicines?

Ayurveda was associated with my great grandparents as a hobby. It all started with my father Dr. BL Aggarwal, who founded a small institute called Dharmani Dawakhana in 1948, in Sirsa district of Haryana. It was something, which started as a philanthropic gesture and has taken the form of family business at present.

Talking about my father, I would like to share it with you that he has such a long experience of Ayurveda, that he can diagnose by merely looking at a patient. He still gives free service to hundreds of patients on one day of the week.

Keeping in mind the growing demand of Ayurvedic products in the market, I took the initiative of setting up Ayurvedic Research Foundation. It would be the first research foundation of its kind in Delhi. In future we would like to take the advantage of academic institutes like Rajasthan Ayurvedic University of Jodhpur, in giving fillip to our proposed research plans.

Though the research foundation Gurgaon will focus on the production of the drugs, the real research will take place in our proposed Ayurvedic research hospital in Uttarakhand.

Why do you intend to establish the hospital in Uttarakhand? How will it make an ideal place for research?

The hospital, construction of which will start in the year 2009 has been proposed in Uttarakhand because it has ideal environment suitable to the patients.

Moreover, the foothills of the Himalayas will provide us with the ready availability of the raw materials, for our proposed research plans as well as products.

In the coming years we plan to invest around Rs 200 cr on our integrated plans.

Is the sub-continent your only target, for Ayurvedic medicines?

The reach of Ayurvedic medicines has become very widespread at present. We are already exporting our products to Nepal and Canada. Medicines on diabetes have a good demand in foreign countries.

Moreover, we are getting queries for trade from diverse countries like Australia, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States and Saudi Arabia.

You may find it interesting to note that in foreigners are more inclined towards Ayurveda more than the Indians.

Why do you think the Ayurvedic medicines are getting more popular with the foreigners?

Because of various personalities, like Baba Ramdev who propagate the virtues of this ancient system of medicine, Ayurveda has become popular in the western countries.

One more reason could be the fact that Ayurveda assures of a treatment for Diabetes, something that Allopathic medicines do not match.

What is the USP of your Ayurvedic products?

Apart from other products we have a treatment for piles, which almost guarantees the cure of the disease within 7 days. We have a treatment for kidney stone and gall bladder stone as well.

How will be your research different from the MNCs involved in the research of Ayurvedic medicines?

Ayurveda will remain the same. The difference will be on the diseases targeted.

In your opinion can Ayurveda replace Allopathic treatment in the times to come?

In medicine Ayurveda can replace the Allopathic ones, if enough research is carried out in this regard, something which cannot be done without the assistance of the Government. But, surgical knowledge of Ayurveda is lost and has to be revived from the scratch.