India plans to cash in on global demand for ancient remedies

India's new government has launched a drive to promote the country's ancient therapies as it seeks to cash in on the multibillion-dollar global market for holistic medicine.

India claims to have natural remedies for everything from cancer to the common cold, but ministers say it has failed to capitalise on its traditions as the world has woken up to alternative medicine.

Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a teetotal vegetarian who practices yoga daily, has said he wants the world to make Ayurveda "a way of life" - and in doing so expand India's share of the growing global market for holistic medicine.

Earlier this month he appointed India's first minister for Ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and homeopathy - known as the AAYUSH ministry - and has also called for an international yoga day.

"Call it whatever - Ayurvedic medicines or herbal medicines or traditional medicines - the global market is estimated at about US$100 billion today," former health minister Harsh Vardhan told a conference on Ayurveda in New Delhi. "India's share in this is negligible because quality standards are not maintained to international specifications. The government has decided to address this lacuna."

Ayurvedic medicine - which means the "science of life" in Sanskrit - treats the physical and mental sources of illness through, for example, prescribing herbs in conjunction with yoga or massage.