CARe Keralam to set up ayurvedic units in Thrissur

Kochi: CARe-Keralam, the Confederation of Ayurvedic Renaissance Keralam Ltd, a joint venture between the Government of India, the Kerala Government, and ayurvedic industries will soon begin work to set up facilities at Koratty in Thrissur with the Rs 10 crore sanctioned by the Union Government.

The State Industries Minster, Mr Elamaram Kareem said that the objective of the venture is to tap the vast potential in the export of Ayurvedic products and create a Kerala brand.

It will provide common facilities for ayurvedic products manufacturers on five acres of land at the Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA) Industries Park at Koratty. The foundation stone laying ceremony for the facilities is expected to be held in a month’s time, he said.

These facilities include a raw material supply centre, pilot plants, uniform packaging facility, quality control laboratory and a research and development unit. It will take about two years to set up various labs and other facilities. The total project cost is Rs 17.88 crore, of which the Centre has sanctioned Rs 10 crore. The balance will be contributed by KINFRA and industry associations.

The project will be developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) model and is the first in India for the Ayurveda sector. It will provide employment to about 20,000 persons in phases, the Minister said. The project has been approved by the Department of Ayush, Government of India, under the Scheme for development of Ayush clusters, he said.

The present bane of ayurveda is presence of spurious and invalidated products. India had received a heavy blow a few years ago, with the US rejecting some products, he added.

The company will also work on documentation of various Ayurvedic products, which is a pre-requisite for the marketing of Ayurveda products as drugs in the foreign market.

It is proposed to have an analytical lab in CARe KERALAM with all the modern analytical testing, method development, and contract research.

The lab will provide reliable, dependable, economical and timely analytical data for the companies. This lab will be a full-fledged laboratory, well equipped with some of the latest equipments for analytical work.