'We Want to Disrupt the Traditional Approach to Ayurveda'
Ayurveda has lost a certain amount of popularity and appeal among the youth. If you look at Yoga today – the West has completely rebranded this ancient Indian creation. With pants, gyms and mats, today yoga is considered fun and aspirational to modern consumers. It is something you can relate to and that is the reason it is now a multi-billion industry in the US.
The India of the late 2000 though has seen a rapid change in relation to Ayurveda. Urban India has become much more conscious on health and fitness. With this change there is a renewed interest on natural products as Indians have also followed suit and understood the harmful effects of chemicals and allopathic medicine. This change in lifestyle has been coupled with a new Indian government that is very proactive in restoring and safeguarding what is traditionally ‘Indian’. The government has formed the ministry of AYUSH and will continue to boost what is traditionally Indian to the populace.
Even though Ayurvedic products are growing in popularity, Vaidya feels that the potential for the science is still largely untapped. “Urban consumers have very limited knowledge on the science as compared to Indian citizens above the age of 60. Modern consumers need to be explained about the science in a form that is appealing and accessible to them. For some reason, a large number of Ayurvedic product brands are stuck in the past and without ‘talking’ to the new consumers it will be quite difficult to make Ayurveda a way of life.”
In terms of potential, Ayurveda is just scratching the surface. Vaidya feels that the knowledge needs to be communicated in the right manner so that modern consumers start consuming just Ayurvedic products. “If yoga underwent a renaissance and became a global phenomenon – why can’t Ayurveda!,” he says.
Talking about the growth of the company, “The business grew 5x in the FY17 and is expected to grow 4x in FY18.” However, in terms of competition with other brands in Ayurveda, Vaidya is clear in creating products that appeal to modern consumers. “We aim to make Ayurveda fun and aspirational for the consumer in a form that is appealing and accessible. The biggest problem we see with Ayurveda is that modern consumers pick up Ayurvedic products because their parents or grandparents tell them to do so. This is something we want to change. We want to make modern consumer want to pick up Ayurvedic products from the shelf. We want to disrupt the traditional approach to Ayurveda, take our traditional Indian knowledge (which has been tried and tested for more than 2,500 years) and package it in a form that appeals to modern consumer,” says Vaidya.
While established players are selling liver protection products and Chyawanprash – Dr Vaidya’s approach to branding, packaging and marketing and speaking to the consumer is very different. “The products are proprietary family formulations and thus it becomes very difficult to replicate exactly what we make,” he adds.
Hailing from a family legacy of 150 years of Ayurvedic clinics, ‘Vaidya’ means Ayurvedic doctor. “My grandfather, Dr. Natoobhai Vaidya was one of Mumbai’s most successful Ayurvedic doctors and saw more than 300 patients per day. I took over his legacy about a year ago after 4 years of undergraduate study in the US and a 2.5 year stint in consumer sector focused private equity, but in a differentiated manner.”
Completely self-funded with a corpus of USD 750,000, and having generated a significant traction in retail in Mumbai and online, the future investment plan is to raise funds in the next 6-9 months.
The company owns 96 FDA approved formulations for Ayurvedic proprietary medicine and dispense all brands across liver arthritis, diabetes, cough, cold asthma, muscle relaxants, face packs, pain balm, hypertension, sleep, anxiety etc. from the flagship clinic. “Continuing this tradition and catering to all the patients under the same philosophy (of my grandfather) of charging no consulation fee to any patient, the brand is now available on Amazon, PayTM, ShopClues, eBay, Snapdeal, etc. We have exported our product to China and are currently in talks with people in 16 countries to execute a large chunk of exports in 2017.”
