Tucked away in the Jarakabande kaval forest area in Yelahanka, Bengaluru, is the Institute of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine (I-AIM). Inaugurated by the late Ratan Tata in March 2011, I-AIM is pioneering transdisciplinary research in health sciences and technology.

As a pharmaceutical scientist who has explored ayurveda and its products and ingredients for over four decades, I long wondered why the House of Tatas had not entered the ayurvedic segment to develop healthcare products. In January 2017, the reason dawned on me, when, for a brief period, I consulted for a Tata Strategic Group (TSG). 

There were several meetings and discussions on ayurveda, ayurvedic therapies, recipes, herbs, and related science with senior TSG officials. The discussions centred on the regulatory routes that can be considered to develop ayurveda-inspired consumer products, the risks and limitations involved, sustainability of raw materials and their quality, and, above all, the benefits that can be claimed on the products. The constant requirement was proven scientific evidence. 

Claims based on history of long usage, as documented in traditional texts, and some published studies on individual herbs and recipes (formulations) was all that was available. My short advisory period ended and no new ayurveda venture seemed forthcoming from the Tatas.

I realised that since technology was at the forefront of Tata’s business verticals and there was no comparable level of science and data available in ayurveda, it would take time, effort and funding to generate such data. It is true that scientific research on ayurvedic ingredients and formulations in the last few decades has largely been funded by the government.

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This, however, does not mean Tata did not respect traditional healthcare systems in India, especially ayurveda. To the contrary, he believed in the power of ayurveda, its clinical aspects, treatments and medicines. But he was looking for their validation through contemporary science. 

Dr G Gangadharan, a leading ayurvedic clinician practising in Bengaluru, recounts how he and others at I-AIM approached Tata — he listened to them carefully, raised the need for scientific validation, and agreed to provide support for the same. The Tata Trust funded a 100-bed ayurvedic hospital, which today not only offers treatments but also documents the observations and results.

Typical of Tata, he did not want publicity — he arrived quietly, inaugurated the hospital during a short function, and left. 

I-AIM’s stated vision is to bring innovative and integrative healthcare to homes, communities and institutions. 

Tata is also learnt to have shown interest in an integrated treatment and research approach to cancer. Though Tata has departed from our midst, his legacy to promote and integrate ayurvedic science with contemporary science — to develop affordable healthcare solutions — needs to be kept alive and pursued. 

(The writer is a pharmaceutical scientist and regulatory expert. Views are personal)

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