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International Conference on Inter Disciplinary Research in Engineering and Technology 2016

[ICIDRET 2016]

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ICIDRET.2016.006

Causal-loop and SWOT analysis of Indian Herbal

Industry
1, 2

Rahi Jain1 , Bakul Rao2

Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), Powai
Mumbai, India

Abstract: Herbal industry is one of the globally and nationally growing industries, but this industry has not been explored adequately in the research
domain. This has raised certain problems in the industry effective functioning. This study is focussed on understanding this industry Strength,
Weakness, Opportunity and Threats (SWOT). The interactions with experts of this industry are done to develop this sector understanding. This study
has identified various factors using causal loop diagram which are playing role in the functioning and the current state of the industry. This study
concludes by proposing the Indian Herbal Industry SWOT.
Keywords: Small-Scale Industries, Medicinal plant, NMMP.

INTRODUCTION
Herbal industry is growing both globally and nationally with the expected world market size to reach around Rs 334 trillion in 2050
[1]. India is one of the major players in herbal market with expected nutraceutical market of around Rs 0.4 trillion by 2020 [2]. Ved
and Goraya (2008), found that the total raw drug consumption in 2005-2006 was 3, 19,500 MT. These raw drugs came from 960
medicinal plants (MPs) out of the 2400 MPs mentioned in codified systems of traditional medicines in India (like Ayurveda, Siddha,
Unani) [3]. In India, herbal products have been prevalent since many millennia and has around 9500 herbal industries (Table 1)
excluding cottage industries [3]. Despite, such long history of herbal products and significant industrial base, Indias contribution in
world herbal market is around 1% and its industry suffers from various issue like quality and validation [4].
Table 1
Classification of the herbal units on the basis of their annual turnover
Unit Size Annual Turnover (Rs. in Million) Approximate number of units
Large
>500
14
Medium
50-500
36
Small
10-50
1443
Very Small <10
8000
Total
9493
Source: Ved and Goraya (2008) [3]
Currently, the literature does not provide sufficient insight into the Indian Herbal Industry (IHI). India has made attempts to improve
the IHI by launching initiatives like National Mission on Medicinal Plants (NMMP), government supply chain and amala mission, but
had unsatisfactory achievements [5]. A study by Jain and Rao (2015) showed the design issues in NMMP operational guidelines [6].
This paper is prepared exclusively for International Conference on Inter Disciplinary Research in Engineering and Technology 2016 [ICIDRET] which is published
by ASDF International, Registered in London, United Kingdom. Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use
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International Conference on Inter Disciplinary Research in Engineering and Technology

27

The studies by Pangriya (2015) and Kuniyal et al (2015) showed implementation issues with various government initiatives
implementation in Uttarakhand [5], [7]. A report by the steering committee for AYUSH (2012) indicated that the achievements in the
targets of NMMP were far from planned targets [8]. Accordingly, in such a scenario, it is important to understand the IHI functioning
for better decision making. This study provides the structural and functional analysis of the IHI.

Method
The study is performed by interacting with various industry, government as well as academic experts on IHI from various organizations
and academic institutions (Table 2). The questionnaire is not standardized and is adapted on the field based on the experts response.
Some basic set of questions used to initiate the interactions are as follows:
What is the role of your organization in Indian herbal industry?
What are the strengths and opportunities in the Indian herbal industry?
What are the weaknesses and threats in the Indian herbal industry?

Organization
A
B
C
D
E
F

Table 2
Organization Types of experts involved in the interactions
Organization Type
Organization Work
Community Driven Enterprise Small-scale herbal industry
Private
Large-scale herbal industry
Public
Government Research Institution
Non-government Organization Private Research Institution
Public
Government Regulatory Body
Non-Government Organization Rural agriculture livelihoods improvement

Result and Discussion

Types of Herbal Industry and Companies
IHI can be classified on the basis of the products developed into three types as Herbal cosmetics industry, Allopathy/pharmaceutical
industry and Traditional medicinal industry. Herbal cosmetics industry uses the MPs to develop products used for enhancing the body
appearance or odor. The pharmaceutical industry uses the MPs to prepare drugs for the allopathy. The traditional medicinal industry
deals with products which are formulated based on the ancient texts and scriptures of Indian traditional medicines (ITM) like
Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy. The traditional medicinal industry can be sub-divided into Classical medicinal industry
and Patent & Proprietary Industry. The classical medicinal industry prepares the formulations and products mentioned in the classical
texts of ITM. The patent & proprietary industry modifies the formulations and products mentioned in the classical texts of ITM to
create new products like extracts, nutraceuticals (or, diet supplements) and cosmetics.
These herbal products especially traditional herbal products could be made by different type of companies that are classified as Public
Listed Companies, Public Unlisted Companies, Private companies and Producer Companies. The companies can also be classified on
the basis of company ownership as public owned company, community owned companies and private owned companies.
Community owned companies or community driven enterprises (CDE) usually prefer public based unlisted company model owing to
three major reasons. Firstly, this is more attractive option as compared to Producer Company for the investors and banks that could
improve the company bail out chances. Secondly, a public unlisted company as compared to private company has no restrictions on
shareholders number. Thirdly, share trading of public unlisted company as compared to public listed company is difficult that will help
in retaining its community based shareholding. This model is preferable for businesses like processing industry with high risk, where
investment cost increases with use of processing equipment and marketing. Further, a start-up with limited funds can process plants
into limited intermediate forms that limit market.
However, in less risky businesses with limited funds requirement, producer company model could be considered. Example, MPs
Collection Company deals with raw plants which are used by different industries in different ways so this unit will have broader
market. Secondly, it only requires MPs storehouse as MPs drying and separation activities are managed by the supplier (cultivator or
collector) before bringing MPs to the collection unit.
Herbal Industry Research and Dissemination
The research in IHI is done in multiple directions. Some of the major directions of research are herbal products development and
validation, MPs processing, cultivation and harvesting and market research [3]. Validation of existing formulations and products is
focused on understanding the traditional herbal products [9] and processes from the modern science perspectives [10] and validate the

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International Conference on Inter Disciplinary Research in Engineering and Technology

28

proposed effects of traditional herbal products [11]. The information obtained from scientific understanding and herbal product
validation is further used to perform research on improving the traditional processes of developing herbal products [12].
Cultivation-based research is focused on developing better medicinal plant varieties for cultivation [13] as well as developing harvesting
practices of MPs [14]. Market based research is focused on understanding the market scenario of the herbal industry in India [1] and
various factors which are affecting this industry in India [5][7].
In terms of research dissemination, different strategies are used for disseminating different kinds of research work. These strategies
include publication in various journals and magazines, preparation of databases and provision of trainings. Training is commonly
performed for cultivators to disseminate new cultivation practices and plant varieties with or without a platform for these cultivators
to meet with their potential buyers. Database and monograph preparation is performed to disseminate various information like MP
cultivation, uses, distribution, characterization [15], herbal products formulations and herbal products quality standards [16].
Role of various institutions in Herbal Industry
The herbal industry supply chain can be broadly categorized into three stages. The first stage is the cultivation stage, second stage is
the intermediate processing stage and the final stage is the finished product stage. Cultivation stage deals with activities involved in
collection or cultivation to the harvesting stage of the MPs. Intermediate processing stage deals with the broad set of activities that can
vary from simple drying and powdering of the plant to bioactive compounds extraction and concentration from MPs and depends on
the desired end product. Finished product stage deals with the preparation of the finished or the consumer product. The industry for
intermediate and finished product can be either same or different.
The interactions with the experts to understand the role of different organizations in herbal sector involved in traditional medicines
production. Resulted in a causal loop diagram (Fig.1). The potential demand for any industry depends on the overall product demand.
The main limiting factor for the herbal industry to achieve its potential is the acceptance of herbal products by the users that is
determined by various factors. Some of the factors affecting user product acceptance are product marketing, product acceptance by
importing countries and doctors, convenience in product usage and product price.
Product marketing and acceptance by countries and doctors depends significantly upon good product validation and standardization
research. Convenience in product usage depends on the relative convenience of alternative products. The powder/liquid form of
herbal drugs intake is less convenient as compared to tablet form that is easily available in allopathy. Finally, the price plays a role as
poor segment of society cannot afford costly drugs. The pricing of the drugs are dependent on the supply-demand curve where higher
demand and less supply increase prices, while less demand and more supply decrease prices.
Allopathy acceptance
Ease of product usage

Product Validation and

Standardization Research

Research
Institution +

AYUSH product
+ acceptance

Acceptance by
countries and doctors

+
+

+
+ Finished product
research dissemination

+
+

+
Healthcare demand

Finished product
marketing +
+

NMPB

Semi-finished
Healthcare
product price
Demand deficit
++
+

Finished Product
industry
+

NMMP

Finished product
selling price
+

+
Product development

Finished product
supply
Semi-fnished
product deficit

+
+
Financial Support

Cultivation
Stage Research

Semi-finished industry
+

+
+

Semi-finished
product demand

Raw Material demand

Semi-finished
product supply

Cultivation Stage Research

diseemination
+

Cultivators and +
Collectors

Raw material price

Raw material supply
+

+
Raw material deficit

Figure 1. Causal Loop Diagram of IHI

(+: Effect is directly proportional, -: effect is inversely proportional)
Further, the various factors affecting the cultivation stage also play a role. Some of the important factors are competition from existing
crops, supply from wild and research in cultivation. The cultivators will cultivate the MPs only if it is more profitable than their
existing crops. Further, the cultivators have to compete with the collectors of MPs who can sell the MPs at lower prices owing to no
investment in cultivation. The higher research dissemination on product yield and quality can improve the supply of MPs to
processing. This higher research dissemination is dependent upon higher research focus on cultivation stage. This focus of research on
cultivation will depend upon the industry demand deficit. Further, community awareness and participation in the herbal industry can
also play a positive role in this sector and one of the approaches is CDE.

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International Conference on Inter Disciplinary Research in Engineering and Technology

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Further, the support of government at all stages is considered favourable for the industry. The government support is expected in the
form of better policies and regulation, linkages with the foreign countries and research. One of the government body National
Medicinal Plant Board (NMPB) is involved in promoting this sector by providing financial assistance to setup the industries, cultivation
zones, research and research dissemination. Financial assistance for industries, cultivation and research dissemination is done through
NMMP.
SWOT analysis
The IHI Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat (SWOT) analysis (Fig.2) is performed based on the interactions with experts.
One of the major strengths of the industry is the availability of the large supplier base that can provide the raw materials and semiprocessed products to the market. Secondly, the AYUSH product development cycle and cost is much smaller as compared to
conventional pharmaceutical products. Thirdly, the information about the product formulations and preparations is available in
various traditional manuscripts and these products are inherently considered safe. Finally, the stance of the government is considered
friendly. Further, certain opportunities exist in this sector that can be important. It can provide avenues for creating entrepreneurs
and employment creation especially with the positive government support. The availability of a large number of potential users after
the AYUSH popularization can provide large market base both nationally and globally. It provides the opportunity to use the natural
resources available to mankind that would have otherwise degenerated.

Figure 2. SWOT Analysis of IHI

However, the herbal industry has certain weaknesses that need to be addressed. In general, the industry has weak backward linkages at
affects supply chain like inadequate backward linkages such as contract production and investment from finished industry to minimize
the business risk. Further, despite a friendly government, industry does not find the policies and regulation adequately appropriate for
sector growth. Another major weakness of the sector is the raw material supply because the MPs yield is nature dependent. This
industry is marred with high investment cost, patent issues and low profit margin that make the small-scale industries sustenance
tough. The industry for its sustenance need to be export oriented, but product variability and poor tie-ups with foreign countries
makes it challenging to target international market. This product variability is affected due to lack of process standardization. Finally,
inadequate interest regarding scientific studies impacts the product development, validation and standardization.
Further, the several threats loom over the industry. Firstly, the decreasing cultivation interest of the farmers threatens the future
quality raw materials supply. In addition, the more profitable crops can make the MPs cultivation less attractive for cultivators.
Secondly, the future supply of MPs from collectors is threatened by the biodiversity disappearance. Finally, increasing global
competition along with poor government regulation and management, lack of scientific validation of product and chemical methods of
production threatens the industry international market presence.

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International Conference on Inter Disciplinary Research in Engineering and Technology

30

CONCLUSION
The study provided the overview on the current IHI regarding the type of companies and research performed. Further the study
provided the various factors that are affecting this sector functioning through the causal loop diagram. This study concluded with the
SWOT analysis of the sector.

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Cite this article as: Rahi Jain, Bakul Rao. Causal-loop and SWOT analysis of Indian Herbal Industry.
International Conference on Inter Disciplinary Research in Engineering and Technology (2016): 26-30.
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