Under umbrella scheme on Technology Vision 2020, Technology Demonstration Projects in identified sectors having socio-economic impact are taken up in Mission mode and one of these sectors is related to Health Care / Herbal & Natural Products.

OBJECTIVES:

The approach towards this sector is in two phases with the following objectives: 

• Utilization of vast natural resources of herbal & natural products & to develop and commercialize the few selected technologies, products & processes; and
• To develop & establish/ demonstrate new approach towards health care system.

Realising the immense potential of India’s biodiversity and the growing awareness of side effects/ concerns of modern medicines, one of the areas of immense importance and having enormous opportunities is “Herbal & Natural Products” in the Health sector. The aim of this sector is to launch India in the global Herbal market in a competitive way. Also the sector aims to develop S&T plans linked to business by building up a chain for organized flow of produce with technology based value addition to consumers and there by boosting the linked entrepreneurs in exploiting the herbal wealth of the country. Therefore, in order to proceed further, keeping the above-mentioned aim it is proposed to take action towards commercial exploitation of the resources.

Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C), Chaired by Padma Vibhushan, Dr. R Chidambaram (earlier Chaired by Bharat Ratna, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam) has also considered “Herbal & Natural Products” as one of the important task areas identified with a view to improve the economy of the country.

The sub panel on Health Care also emphasizes to undertake commercial/ demonstrative, process, product or service oriented projects. The projects would be oriented towards demonstration of new approaches in the area of health.

PROJECTS: Undertaken projects having societal impact (Mobile Hospitals, Plasma Fractionation, Geranium cultivation and processing) and with industrial focus (Omega-3 powder micro encapsulation, Bacopa monnieri (Brahmi)

With an aim of bringing the enhanced use of Indian herbal and traditional medicines and also to develop commercial/ demonstrative projects in  the area of health care TIFAC invites proposals from entrepreneurs, industries, NGOs or research organisations in the area of Health Care/ Herbal and Natural products.  The project can be for the development of a product or a process with both forward and backward linkages in terms of available of raw materials, technology inputs and market etc.

In this connection you may like to submit the proposal considering the following points: -

•  The various aspects of the value chain, which can be considered for funding, are cultivation, value addition, incremental R&D (pre and post development of the project) and marketing. The project can be for the development of a product or a process.
• The project should be justified in terms of objectives, scope, techno-economic feasibility, relevance and market potential.
• Status of technology – at both National and international level.
• Project involving only cultivation is not envisaged for support but cultivation, as a part of the whole value chain may be included in the project.
• Research projects, which are required to add value to the product, may be considered when included as a part of the value chain.
• TIFAC does not fund for land and building and provides 50% of the project cost as a soft loan with a moratorium period of six months.
• Duration of the project can vary from 6 months to 5 years but shorter gestation projects are preferred.
• Six copies of the project proposal should be submitted on A-4 size paper (Times New Roman, font size-12).

Normally, TIFAC provides 50% of project cost (which excludes land and building) as soft loan with a moratorium period of 6 months.

The project proposal can be sent in the format as mentioned in Annexure1 and Annexure2