First Ayurvedic manufacturing cluster of Orissa to come up at Berhampur

BERHAMPUR: Plagued by rejection on non-standardisation, testing and validation issues, the Ayurvedic drugs and formulation manufacturing sector in the State now has reasons to look forward to a bright future. The first Ayurvedic cluster with state-of-the-art testing and validation laboratories, packaging along with marketing facilities is soon to come up at Berhampur to not only aid the existing units in upscaling their products to international standards but also give a boost to entrepreneurship in the sector. Along with it, the cluster would give birth to a unified brand of Ayurveda formulations called Rushikulya.

Christened Rushikulya Ayurvedic Cluster Pvt Limited, the project would kickstart with 15 manufacturing units that already are in operation at Berhampur. Spanning over four acre, the cluster would have a Common Facility Centre (CFC) with Raw material store and advanced testing laboratories for analysis as well as research and development, process validation set-up, a common manufacturing and packaging centre along with product display, IT and marketing infrastructure. The Union Department of AYUSH would bear the bulk of the Rs 10 crore project cost at Rs 6 crore. The member units of the Special Purpose Vehicle would pitch in with Rs 2 crore and the rest sourced from banks and financing organisations. With the Centre releasing the first phase investment amount, work is ready to commence and the whole facility is targeted to be operational in 12 months. The basic objective is to upgrade the process technology of Ayurvedic drugs so as to compete in the international market. By securing a foolproof quality control mechanism and certification, major bottlenecks hindering the export potential would be eliminated.

Orissa at present has nearly 260 units in Ayurveda sector and contributes close to 10 per cent of the overall industry turnover in the country. But the acceptance of Ayurvedic drugs and formulations and methods of treatment are low for lack of validation and adoption of global manufacturing practices.

The cluster would not be limited to the promoting units only but would be open to participation of manufacturers across the State. They can source the raw materials from the CFC bank, use the testing labs as well as research labs, packaging and also be a part of the common brand.

Handholding support to the SPV is being extended by Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services. The SPV would also strive to tap domestic markets in arrangement with the Tourism Department, sources said.

Source: New Indian Express