The Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of AYUSH have decided to work together to set up an Export Promotion Council to boost AYUSH exports.

This decision was taken recently in a joint review of AYUSH trade and Industry by Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Shripad Naik, Minister of AYUSH. It was also decided in the review that the entire AYUSH sector will work together to achieve price and quality competitiveness to boost AYUSH exports.

The review was held through video conference on December 4, 2020, which was attended by nearly 50 industry and trade leaders from the AYUSH Sector. More than 2000 stake-holders of the AYUSH Sector also attended the e-event through live streaming on virtual platforms.

Secretary AYUSH spoke about the emerging opportunities for promotion of AYUSH sector and listed a few hurdles that deserved attention.

In the open forum that followed, officials from Ministry of Commerce and Industry, RIS, BIS and Invest India and AYUSH industry representatives shared their thoughts.

Naik stated that trade and commerce in the AYUSH Sector needed to upscale quickly in order 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.

The Commerce Minister advised the industry leaders to work simultaneously on the quality and pricing of their products, so that they become increasingly competitive in the global market. He supported the concept of an AYUSH Export Promotion Council and said that the Commerce Ministry would be happy to support the same.

The following are the action points that emerged from the meeting:

• Ministry of AYUSH and Ministry of Commerce and Industry will work together for establishing an AYUSH Export Promotion Council (AEPC). The proposed AEPC can be housed at Ministry of AYUSH.
• Standardisation of HS code for AYUSH will be expedited.
• Ministry of AYUSH will work in collaboration with Bureau of Indian standards to develop international standards for AYUSH products as well as services.
• Ministry of AYUSH and AYUSH industry will identify best practices/ success stories and promote them amongst the public.
• AYUSH industry will work on ensuring quality and standards of AYUSH products as well as to become price-competitive.
• AYUSH will figure in the Brand India activities.