PM inaugurates Global AYUSH summit in Gandhinagar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated the Global AYUSH Investment & Innovation Summit at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and Director-General of World Health Organization Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus were also present at the event. 

Addressing the inauguration ceremony, the PM Jugnauth said that India is known as the pharmacy of the world. He said that India will emerge as the leader in AYUSH, Ayurveda and traditional medicine also.

Speaking on this occasion, the Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said that India will go to the whole world and the whole world will come to India through AYUSH. He said that growth in the AYUSH sector is significant. He said that the Ayush industry has grown 17 per cent per year since 2014 and it is projected to be $23 billion by the end of this year.

The three-day Global AYUSH Investment & Innovation Summit will witness 5 plenary sessions, 8 roundtables, 6 workshops, and 2 symposiums.  About 90 eminent speakers and 100 exhibitors will also participate in the summit. The Summit will help to uncover investment potential and give a fillip to innovation, research & development, start-up ecosystem and the wellness industry. It will help bring together industry leaders, academicians and scholars together and act as a platform for future collaborations.

PM Modi also said that the possibilities of investment and innovation in the field of AYUSH are limitless. “We are already witnessing unprecedented growth in the production of AYUSH medicines, supplements and cosmetics. He said that the AYUSH sector was less than $3 billion in 2014, which has now crossed $18 billion”.

Further, PM Modi said that traditional medicine helped in increasing the tourism of Kerala. This power is in the whole of India, in every corner of India. He said that ‘Heal in India’ can become a big brand of this decade. Wellness centers based on Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha etc. can be very popular.

Modi said that FSSAI has also announced a new category named ‘AYUSH Aahar’ in its regulations last week. This will facilitate the producers of herbal nutritional supplements. He said that it is very important that the farmers involved in the production of medicinal plants should get the facility to easily connect with the market. For this, the government is also working on modernization and expansion of AYUSH e-market place.

The Prime Minister said that this is the era of unicorns in India. In the year 2022 itself, so far 14 start-ups from India have joined the Unicorn Club. I am sure unicorns will emerge from our AYUSH start-ups very soon.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Union Minister for AYUSH Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya were present during the ceremony.