India is aggressively promoting the globalization of Ayush therapy through its multiple trade agreements and bilateral MoUs. Different models are being experimented with to facilitate market access.
India is aggressively promoting the globalization of Ayush therapy through its multiple trade agreements and bilateral MoUs. Different models are being experimented with to facilitate market access.
For example, under the India-EU trade deal, Indian Ayush practitioners will be able to provide their services in EU member states using India-obtained professional qualifications wherever regulation doesn’t exist.
For example, under the India-EU trade deal, Indian Ayush practitioners will be able to provide their services in EU member states using India-obtained professional qualifications wherever regulation doesn’t exist.
The trade pact also has provisions for cooperation by the EU on setting up Ayush wellness centres and clinics in its member states. Homeopathy, with its strong base in Germany, is already popular in the EU, as is yoga.
In the India-UK trade agreement implemented on 15 July 2026, duties on Ayush medicants and medicaments got eliminated.
The India-Oman deal, signed on 18 December 2025, has a separate annex on Ayush that covers cooperation on R&D and provides scope for engagement between relevant professional bodies and authorities for the recognition and accreditation of practitioners and therapists of traditional medicine. Insurance coverage and fast-track visas are issues for patients who come to India for treatment.
The Oman agreement mentions that insurance coverage for traditional medicine may not be restricted or prohibited, while visas for providers of traditional therapeutic services should be expedited.
The ministry of Ayush has signed 27 government-to-government MoUs with countries such as Japan and Germany for cooperation in the field of traditional medicine.
Broadly, these MoUs cover regulatory cooperation, research collaboration and the exchange of human resources. Forty-three Ayush Information Cells have been set up in 39 countries, through which information on Ayush systems of medicine is disseminated and occasions like the International Day of Yoga are celebrated.
These initiatives look promising and may help generate Ayush awareness and expand its broad outreach. Yet, they may not guarantee market access, which would require Ayush products to be approved in importing countries. Unless products are approved and practitioners are allowed to practice there, services cannot be delivered.
Homeopathy is accepted globally. But in many countries, Ayurveda is not recognized as a system of medicine, making it difficult to market and sell such products. The US permits Ayurveda products to be sold only as dietary supplements, while Australia classifies them as complementary medicines instead of recognized therapeutic products.
These regulatory gaps are compounded by technical barriers. Most Ayush products combine multiple herbs, but many export markets lack provision for registering poly-herbal formulations.
High-potential export markets like Canada and the EU demand exhaustive safety data and evidence for each ingredient and its interactions, sometimes requiring clinical-trial data spanning decades, which is difficult to collate for traditional plants and herbs.
The EU, UK, US, Australia and Gulf countries impose stiff maximum residue limits (MRL) for heavy metals in food and nutraceutical products, so formulations like chyawanprash that traditionally have ingredients such as gold and silver fail compliance tests.
There are limited research papers and patents in Ayurveda, which makes it difficult to push a case for market access. Thus, trade agreements may not automatically translate into greater exports.
To sign a mutual recognition agreement, the qualifications of our Ayush practitioners must be approved by a competing nodal agency in the partner country, and such an authority may be missing.
While many South Asian countries like Sri Lanka and Nepal have a strong Ayurveda base, they hardly collaborate with India to jointly promote Ayurveda in key markets through the World Health Organization and other global bodies.
Today, due to regulatory, clinical-trial and data gaps, many Ayush products are unable to secure approval in key international markets, resulting in lost opportunities for exports and expansion. Patients may travel to India for treatment, but they cannot continue the treatment in their home country.
This shows in the low uptake of Ayush visas issued by India. As of December 2024, only 123 such visas and 221 e-visas were availed of, compared to over 400,000 visas and e-visas for medical treatment.
India needs nodal Ayush regulators that can engage partner countries with the aim of getting them to remove trade barriers, facilitate product approvals and recognize qualified professionals. Without products being approved, services will not grow even if wellness centres and the like are set up.
The Ayurveda industry should conduct a detailed study of the overseas markets they want to address and the problems they face in addressing them. The study may include what other countries like China, Sri Lanka and Nepal are doing to promote their traditional medicine.
The industry should also form a partnership with the Ayush ministry to develop a framework for skills that qualify people to be Ayurveda sevikas or Yoga teachers, which could then be taken up for discussion with partner countries.
While trade pacts and MoUs open doors, systematic action and evidence-based support from the Ayurveda industry, along with a streamlined regulatory structure for collaboration, will help expand Ayush acceptance and solidify its status as a globally reputed system of traditional medicine.
These are the authors’ personal views.
The authors are, respectively, a professor and a research intern.