AYUSH Emerges as a High-Growth Service Economy, RIS Study Highlights $36.92 Billion Scale
India’s AYUSH ecosystem is emerging as a significant component of the country’s services economy with its expanding footprint across traditional healthcare, wellness, tourism and allied services pointing to a rapidly widening economic base. A Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) study has estimated the AYUSH economy at US$36.92 billion, highlighting the sector’s growing economic significance.
The expansion reflects a shift in AYUSH from a largely traditional healthcare segment towards a broader services ecosystem. Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy are increasingly connected with wellness centres, preventive healthcare, medical and wellness tourism, education, research and supporting enterprises.
RIS has been undertaking structured mapping of the AYUSH service sector to assess establishments, geographical distribution, revenues, employment, domestic and foreign clientele and service portfolios. The objective is to generate evidence that can support MSME development, accreditation, quality frameworks, wellness-tourism strategies and greater integration of AYUSH services with insurance mechanisms.
The economic opportunity also extends beyond domestic consumption. RIS research has highlighted AYUSH’s expanding role in international health cooperation, traditional-medicine diplomacy and exports, giving India an additional avenue to build global markets around its traditional knowledge systems.
From a governance perspective, the key challenge now is converting sectoral growth into a more organised and globally competitive ecosystem. Standardisation, quality assurance, skilled manpower, credible data, research and development, accreditation and stronger market linkages will be critical for sustaining expansion.
With its growing service footprint and international relevance, AYUSH is increasingly positioned not only as a healthcare segment but also as an emerging contributor to India’s services economy, employment generation and wellness-tourism value chain.
