"Many companies fail to follow Good Manufacturing Practices certification norms that led to such instances. These cases severely affect the growth of medicinal plants' products," says Dr G P Garg, senior chief chemist, National Medicinal Plants Board, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
"There is great potential for Indian herbal products across the world. The use of herbal remedies is booming even in developed countries. US, Japan, France, UK, UAE, Spain, Germany and Australia are some of the countries which are the major markets for medicinal plants from India," he says.
"Export trends between 1999 to 2002 indicate that despite fluctuations, there has been an increase of 20 per cent per annum in the country's export earnings from the medicinal plants, largely in the form of crude drugs and extracts, he adds.
"Indian herbal products exports were valued at Rs 874 crore (Rs 8.74 billion) in 2001-02 and it is further projected to go up to about Rs 1758 crore (Rs 17.58 billion) by 2006-07 and to Rs 2674 crore (Rs 26.74 billion) by 2009-10", he says.
How safe are these herbal medicines?
According to the World Health Organisation, around 80 per cent of the world's people rely for their primary health care on traditional medicine using remedies made from plants.
"The use of medicinal plants in India has increased manifold during last two decades because these plants are less harmful and have no side-effects compared to the modern medicines. Moreover, people are increasingly gaining faith in Indian system of medicines like Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha which use a large number of medicinal plants," says Satyabrata Maiti, director, National Research Centre for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Anand (Gujarat).
"There are about 100 species of medicinal plants which are popular and being cultivated for commercial purpose for exporting to world markets and for manufacturing herbal or ayurvedic medicines", he says.
As various research institutes have been engaged to develop equipment and technologies for cultivation and improving seed qualities, around 32 Medicinal Plants' Boards have been set up to encourage farmers.
The boards identify the important species of their respective states and provide financial assistance to the farmers for their cultivation, Maiti says.
Even President A P J Abdul Kalam took the initiative to popularise the cultivation of the medicinal plants by creating a herbal garden in 10 acre area of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
"Set up in October 2002, the garden is frequently visited by farmers, students, scientists and drug manufacturers from across the country. During their visit they are apprised of the qualities of the plants. They are also given samples which can help them in cultivation", says S M Khan, press secretary to the president.
Experts, however, view India needs to change the pattern of exports in order to become a globally reputed and significant manufacturer of these products.
Enterprises dealing in medicinal plants and products should develop 'gold standards' through organic cultivation, storage technologies and better extraction methodologies, says Dr Garg.
"Breakthrough in exports should come from interventions in 'finished products' sector," he adds.
