CCRAS and BIS Join Hands to Strengthen Ayurveda Quality Standards

India is strengthening the quality framework around Ayurveda and other traditional medicine systems, with the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) signing an agreement to jointly develop standards, improve laboratory practices and support scientific validation across the Ayush sector.

CCRAS, the apex Ayurveda research organisation under the Ministry of Ayush, signed the Memorandum of Understanding with BIS to bring research expertise and national standard-setting capabilities onto a common platform. The agreement was signed by CCRAS Director General Prof. (Vaidya) Rabinarayan Acharya and BIS Deputy Director General (Standardisation-II) Sanjay Pant in the presence of Ministry of Ayush Secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha.

Partnership Focuses on Quality and Scientific Validation

The collaboration will cover the development of standards for Ayurveda and other Ayush systems, improvement of laboratory quality, conformity assessment and scientific validation of traditional knowledge, giving researchers and manufacturers clearer benchmarks for demonstrating the quality and reliability of their work.

Stronger standards could also support Indian Ayurvedic products and practices in international markets, where manufacturers need to meet defined requirements around quality, testing and consistency. The partnership is expected to increase India's participation in international standardisation work while creating benchmarks grounded in both traditional knowledge and modern scientific assessment.

"Quality is the foundation of credibility, and credibility is the key to global acceptance," Kotecha said, describing science-driven standards as important for strengthening public confidence and supporting India's position in evidence-based traditional medicine.

CCRAS Brings Research Network Into Standards Process

CCRAS has been expanding quality systems across its research network, with several institutes and laboratories already operating under National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) and ISO standards.

Acharya said cooperation with BIS would help improve research quality, standardise laboratory practices and create scientifically validated benchmarks that can be used by researchers and industry.

Scientists from CCRAS are also expected to contribute directly to standards development as Project Leaders, bringing specialist knowledge of Ayurveda into the process of formulating Indian Standards.

The collaboration reaches across CCRAS's wider institutional network, with scientists and officials from all 30 peripheral institutes and centres witnessing the signing virtually.

BIS Reaches 100th MoU Milestone

The agreement carries additional significance for BIS because it represents the national standards body's 100th Memorandum of Understanding and its first with an organisation from the Ayush sector.

BIS Deputy Director General Sanjay Pant said the organisation has developed partnerships with more than 100 leading research and academic institutions, with CCRAS now joining that network. He expects the involvement of Ayurveda researchers to help speed up the development of stronger Indian Standards for the sector.

Vaidya Jayant Deopujari, Chairperson of the BIS Ayurveda Sectional Committee, said bringing research and standardisation expertise together could create a stronger quality assurance framework and increase confidence in Ayurveda within India and internationally.

Hundreds of Ayush Standards Under Development

The scale of standardisation activity across traditional medicine has grown considerably, with 128 Indian Standards currently under the Ayurveda Sectional Committee, according to BIS's Ayush Department.

Another 243 standards covering different Ayush domains have been developed during the past three years, creating a growing technical framework for products, practices and related areas across the sector.

The CCRAS-BIS partnership is expected to accelerate this work by connecting scientific research with formal standard-setting and conformity assessment. For India's Ayush industry, clearer evidence-based standards could improve product consistency, strengthen laboratory capabilities and make it easier to demonstrate quality to consumers, regulators and international markets.