Medicinal Plant Raw Materials for Indian Drug and Pharmaceutical Industry I. An Appraisal of Resources

India has a fast growing drug and pharmaceutical industry producing plant based medicines, phyto-pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter products. The country also exports a number of crude drugs and their extracts. The number of plant species yielding raw materials used by the industry on regular basis and/or in substantially large quantities is put at around 340. Among these, 145 occur wild in forests or other forms of natural vegetation, 54 grow as weed, 70 are grown as cash crop for other plant based products, 30 are cultivated as medicinal crop and around 40 are imported from other countries. There has been a tremendous increase in the production of herbal medicines and other items in recent years. This has put great pressure on the raw material resources. Natural population of many medicinal plants has declined to a great extent while a few are at the verge of extinction. A sort of scare prevails among various quarters regarding the decline in the supply of the raw materials or even its discontinuation. Though the fears expressed are quite valid there is a scope not only for damage control but also augmentation of resources assuring continued supplies in future. This paper makes an appraisal of present status of raw material resources and discusses prospects of its development.