Centre allocates Rs 10 cr for 'CAR-e Keralam'

Kochi, Sep 20: The Centre has allocated Rs 10 cr for the joint venture between Confederation for Ayurvedic Renaissance Keralam Ltd. (CARe-Keralam), Kerala government and private players to boost exports of Ayurvedic medicines.

Announcing this at a press conference here last evening, Kerala Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem said the union Department of Ayurveda Unani Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) had recently allocated the amount under its scheme for the development of AYUSH Clusters.

The main objective of CARe-Keralam is to promote Kerala as a global destination for sourcing Ayurvedic products and services of internationally acceptable standards.

The consortium would be of particular help to small companies which would get access to quality control and raw material supply facilities by becoming members of the consortium, he said.

The drugs of all the 53 consortium members would be certified by the laboratory and get the CARe-Keralam logo, he said.

Spurious and invalidated products, which were spoiling the reputation of Ayurveda, would be eliminated and standardised and certified drugs made available for the gloabl market, he added.

Stating that the Kerala government was keen that the state should leverage its natural heritage of Ayurveda, the Minister noted that the share of Ayurvedic medicines manufactured by companies in Kerala was very little in the national scenario.

Of the Rs 4,000 crore worth Ayurvedic drugs manufactured in the country, Kerala's share was only about Rs 200 crore. The Minister said the total project cost of CARe-Keralam in the first phase was about Rs 17.88 crore. With AYUSH allocating Rs 10 crore, the balance Rs 7.88 crore would be contributed by the state government and private companies.

CARe-Keralam CMD and Coimbatore Arya Vaidyasala Chairman P R Krishnakumar said it was for the first time in the country that a cluster approach was being adopted to promote Ayurveda.

Stating that there were about 900 registered manufacturers of Ayurveda medicines in Kerala, Mr Krishnakumar said more companies were slated to join the venture.

In the first phase, common facilities for raw material supply, a quality control lab, R &D facilities and product and process validation laboratory would be set up in five acre of land at the Kerala Infrastructure Development Corp. (KINFRA) Industries Park at Koratty in Thrissur district, he informed.

The laboratory, which would apply for accreditation by NABL, was scheduled to be completed in two years' time, CARe-Keralam CEO T Joy Verghes said.

The project had the potential to employ about 20,000 people.

UNI