Yash Birla to take ayurvedic wellness biz abroad

An overseas foray for its ayurvedic health and wellness centres is definitely on the radar for the Yash Birla group but this would be done only after consolidation of its domestic operations, a top group official said.  "It (overseas foray) is something that we will definitely undertake. And it would be much bigger than what we do in the domestic space," Yash Birla Group's Chairman, Yash Birla, told PTI here.  

The group runs its ayurvedic business in a joint venture with Kerala Vaidyashala, having recently bought a majority stake in the Kerala entity. It has plans to invest Rs 50-crore and set up 200 ayurvedic wellness centres pan-India over the next five years.  The market potential for take-home ayurvedic products is estimated to be in the range of Rs 2,500-crore  The group's ayurvedic business is still in the evolving stage and "we need to stabilise it here in the domestic market before venturing abroad," Birla said.  The Rs 3,000-crore Yash Birla Group is a conglomerate of over 20 diversified companies operating across sectors such as auto and engineering, wellness and lifestyle, education and IT, textiles and chemicals, power and electrical. 

The company as such did not have a ready business plan for an overseas foray presently but it would endevour to tap the international market, Birla said.  The ayurvedic therapy chain offers treatment for lifestyle and chronic health disorders which conventional medicines may not be able to treat effectively.  The group would be launching its ayurvedic medicines business next month, he said.  "We are launching some 65 Ayurvedic medicines next month and after that we will come up with cosmetics, which is a separate venture," he said.  The group also plans to launch a more modern contemporary body-shop type of products in the next two months, which will be available in the retail market, he said.