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After 10 years’ of deadlock, CARe Keralam to become fully operational by August
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Peethaambaran Kunnathoor, Chennai
June 17 , 2021
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CARe Keralam, the consortium of Ayurveda companies established for the cluster project in Kerala, will resume operations in August after a period of 10 years’ deadlock in operations, according to its CMD, Dr J Hareendranathan Nair.
“Even now it is up and running, operating with a small number of staff, but on limited projects. I hope to resume working in full-swing from August,” said the CMD adding that the cluster project will work in the way as it is envisaged for although it has become a subsidiary of Pankaj Kasthuri Herbals India Pvt Ltd at present.
The consortium chief said the present pandemic situation and the ongoing lockdown are the reasons delaying the working of the company. However, clinical trials for new medicines and laboratory functioning are going on without interruption. He said the operation of the cluster will be in large scale after two months and all the small manufacturing units in the state can benefit out of it. A strong director board with some new faces has been constituted to run the show.
The consortium company is able to meet all the requirements of the Ayurveda industry in Kerala. It is equipped with state of the art facilities for carrying out encapsulation and tableting of ayurvedic products. All medicated oils and decoctions can be converted here into soft gelatin capsules or tablets using its technology. According to technical staff, CARe Keralam is the second institution in Kerala with sophisticated toxicology laboratory, first being the Sree Chitthira Thirunal Hospital at Thiruvananthapuram.
Besides laboratory and technical operations, the company will buy medicinal plants and materials from cultivators and plant collectors for processing them through washing, cleaning and drying. After the process, they will be sold to the manufacturing units as raw materials after proper quality assessment. For keeping the raw materials, a large godown has been set up in the premises of the company by Pankaja Kasthuri.
Since the cluster was not working due to financial liabilities ever since it started 12 years ago, it was on the verge of closure till last December when one of the directors, Pankaja Kasthuri Herbals India came forward to clear the dues with the bank and took over the company by purchasing all the shares. Dr. Hareendranathan Nair, MD of Pankaja Kasthuri while speaking to Pharmabiz said he cleared a debt of Rs eight crore with a nationalized bank due by CARe Keralam and acquired 90% of the shares. However, it will work in the interest of all the share holders and other ayurveda companies in Kerala.
Meanwhile, some prominent directors of the cluster sold their shares and left CARe Keralam. Dr. D Ramanathan, managing director of Seetharam Ayurveda Pharmacy in Thrissur and general secretary of Ayurveda manufacturers association (AMMOI), who was one of the cluster’s founder members, has now sold his shares to Pankaja Kasthuri. Currently the director board includes 11 members including major players like Pankaja Kasthuri, Dhathri, Vaidyaratnam and Kerala Ayurveda Pharmacy.
The Rs 15 crore Ayurveda cluster project at Koratty in Thrissur district was established to upgrade the formulation development of Ayush medicines to market in international markets, standardization and validation of raw drugs, establish a state-of-the-art R&D unit for Ayurveda and to promote exports of classical and proprietary Ayush products to foreign countries. But even after 15 years, it has not kicked off its operation fully to implement the schemes as envisaged by the Union government.
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