Ayurswasthya Yojana: Advancing AYUSH For Public Health And Excellence (2025)

Policy Update
Atharva Salunke

Background:

AYURSWASTHYA Yojana, a central sector scheme which was sanctioned for implementation during the period 2021-22 to 2025-26, will enhance the health care in India by realising the potential of AYUSH systems of medicine. India has a triple burden of communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases, reproductive and child health issues, and ongoing epidemics of emerging infections. Lifestyle disorders such as diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, and cancer are also adding to the system’s baggage. To this end, COVID-19 phases revealed a lacuna in healthcare infrastructure and highlighted the role of AYUSH for prevention and control.

Since the 11th Five-Year Plan, the Ministry of AYUSH has sanctioned Public Health Intervention (PHI) projects to test the effectiveness of traditional medicine in managing key health problems. More than 67 projects have been sanctioned across states in the domains of anaemia, musculoskeletal disorders, ante-natal care, and de-addiction. Drawing on this experience, the AYURSWASTHYA Yojana aims to scale up evidence-based AYUSH interventions and mainstream them in national health programmes for broader reach.

Functioning:

The AYURSWASTHYA Yojana operates through two core components: AYUSH and Public Health (PHI) and the Centre of Excellence (CoE), along with a sub-component on AYUSH for Sports Medicine. The PHI component focuses on demonstrating the effectiveness of AYUSH interventions in addressing priority health concerns such as communicable and non-communicable diseases, reproductive and child health issues, musculoskeletal disorders, anaemia, and de-addiction. It aims to promote AYUSH in community healthcare, document evidence, and integrate these practices into national health programmes, thereby contributing to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG-2 and SDG-3).

The Sports Medicine sub-component promotes AYUSH interventions for enhancing the fitness, wellness, and rehabilitation of sportspersons, with particular emphasis on preventive care and treatment of sports-related injuries.

The CoE component supports reputed AYUSH and allopathic institutions, both government and non-government, in establishing specialised AYUSH units.

Funding under the scheme ensures phased and accountable support: up to Rs. 10 crore for CoE, Rs. 1.5 crore for PHI projects, and Rs. 1 crore for Sports Medicine initiatives. For PHI and CoE, money is disbursed in three years in three payments (40%, 40%, 20%), whereas Sports Medicine projects are financed in 18 months in two payments (60%, 40%).

Performance:

Ever since its launch in FY 2021-22, the AYURSWASTHYA Yojana has depicted considerable development in the spread of AYUSH-based care through its dual components, Public Health Interventions (PHI) and Centres of Excellence (CoE). Nine leading national institutions of excellence, including Tata Memorial Centre (Mumbai), IIT Delhi, IISc Bengaluru, JNU New Delhi, and NIMHANS Bengaluru, have been given financial support through the CoE component to establish specialised AYUSH units and research centres. These initiatives are putting emphasis on priority areas such as cancer treatment, metabolic disease, integrative precision medicine, green AYUSH technologies, and yoga-therapy-based innovative research. Rs. 5.51 crore was spent during 2022-23, Rs. 15.42 crore in 2023-24, and Rs. 9.01 crore in 2024-25, showing sustained scale-up of activities.

S. No.	Name of the Organization	State	Project Name	Fund Released (₹ in Crore)
S. No.	Name of the Organization	State	Project Name	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
1.	Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Mumbai	Maharashtra	Centre of Excellence for Discovery and Development of AYUSH Medicine for Cancer Care	–	2.00	1.62
2.	Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow	Uttar Pradesh	Centre of Excellence for Fundamental and Translation Research in Ayurveda	–	2.00	1.99
3.	Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi	Delhi	Functional-based CoE on Ayurveda and Systems Medicine	–	1.01	2.44
4.	Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi	Delhi	Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Ayush for advanced technological solutions, startup support and net zero sustainable solutions for Rasaushadhies	–	2.00	1.14
5.	Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru	Karnataka	Centre of Excellence in Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders	–	2.00	1.82
6.	Centre for Integrative Medicine and Research (CIMR), AIIMS New Delhi	Delhi	Centre of Excellence for Yoga & Ayurveda	2.05	2.04	–
7.	National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru	Karnataka	Centre of Excellence in Ayush Research	0.85	0.37	–
8.	Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), New Delhi	Delhi	Effects of Indian Foods and Ayurvedic Drugs on Healthy and Diseased Liver	2.61	–	–
9.	Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Jodhpur	Rajasthan	Centre of Excellence in AYURTech for Integrative Precision Health and Medicine	–	4.00	–
Total				5.51	15.42	9.01

Table 1: Nine Organizations of National Repute Funded under Centre of Excellence (CoE) Component of AYURSWASTHYA Scheme

Apart from these, 24 other well-known AYUSH and allied institutions from all over India, such as AIIMS New Delhi, AIIA New Delhi, National Institute of Ayurveda Jaipur, and Institute of Teaching & Research in Ayurveda Jamnagar, were supported by funding under different projects. Disbursements varied extensively, with organizations such as AIIMS, AIIA, and Jamia Hamdard receiving up to Rs. 10 crore each.

S. No.	Name of the Organization	State/UT	Funds Allocated / Sanctioned	Fund Disbursed
S. No.	Name of the Organization	State/UT	Funds Allocated / Sanctioned	2021-22	2022-23
1.	Government Ayurvedic College, Jalukabari	Assam	1000.00	400.00	–
2.	SDM College of Naturopath and Yogic Sciences, Ujjire	Madhya Pradesh	879.00	175.80	–
3.	Society for Welfare of the Handicapped Persons, Bharosa, Durgapur	West Bengal	200.00	10.00	–
4.	Regional Research Institute of Unani Medicine (RRIUM), Srinagar	Jammu and Kashmir	707.16	282.87	–
5.	Rajeev Gandhi Government Ayurveda College, Paprola	Himachal Pradesh	500.00	11.41	–
6.	Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur	Rajasthan	1000.00	400.00	–
7.	Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), New Delhi	Delhi	992.71	397.08	260.63
8.	Arya Vaidya Sala (AVS), Kottakkal, Malappuram	Kerala	664.45	265.78	–
9.	Jamia Hamdard Deemed to be University	Delhi	1000.00	400.00	–
10.	Banaras Hindu University	Uttar Pradesh	500.00	142.45	–
11.	Patanjali Ayurveda Hospital, Haridwar	Uttarakhand	1000.00	400.00	–
12.	National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore	Karnataka	975.02	390.01	84.75
13.	National Institute of Ayurveda (NIA), Jaipur	Rajasthan	439.35	175.74	127.88
14.	Ayurved Seva Sangh’s Ayurved Mahavidyalaya, Nashik	Maharashtra	130.20	42.65	–
15.	Molecular Diagnostics Counseling Care & Research Centre, Coimbatore	Tamil Nadu	150.00	60.00	–
16.	Shri B M Kankanawadi Ayurved Mahavidyalaya, Karnataka	Karnataka	123.10	24.62	–
17.	National Institute of Siddha, Chennai	Tamil Nadu	149.98	59.99	–
18.	CIMR, AIIMS, New Delhi	Delhi	964.12	204.61	–
19.	Central Ayurveda Research Institute, Bengaluru	Karnataka	724.80	20.00	–
20.	Srinath Manav Sewa Mandal, Parli Mumbai	Maharashtra	149.52	29.90	–
21.	Directorate of Ayush, Maharashtra	Maharashtra	80.00	16.00	–
22.	All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi	Delhi	897.51	288.31	–
23.	Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda (ITRA), Jamnagar	Gujarat	149.96	29.99	–
24.	Tilak Ayurved Mahavidyalaya, Pune	Maharashtra	87.33	20.92	–

Table 2: Funds Allocated and Disbursed to Institutions under AYURSWASTHYA Yojana (Rs. in lakhs)

Impact:

Yojana has shown a real effect in increasing the role of AYUSH systems in India’s healthcare domain. For the Public Health Intervention (PHI) component, regular support has been provided to various organizations. In 2023-24, seven government and one non-governmental institute were supported with more than ₹6.11 crore along with another ₹56.74 lakh to NIA Jaipur, thus consolidating AYUSH-based interventions for various public health demands. Additionally, new initiatives were proposed for consideration, showing a pipeline of increasing initiatives. In 2024-25, the coverage further expanded with nine organizations being supported under PHI with a total of ₹4.98 crore, showing continuity in scaling AYUSH interventions for community health.

The Centre of Excellence (CoE) element has also generated enduring institutional capacities. In 2023-24, three organizations were awarded ₹5.60 crore, while in 2024-25, nine prestigious institutions were sanctioned ₹24.45 crore to create high-level AYUSH research and clinical facilities. These ongoing investments are accelerating innovation, evidence generation, and AYUSH confluence with allopathic medicine.

Collectively, these accomplishments reflect the increasing importance of AYURSWASTHYA Yojana in enhancing healthcare access, institution building, and AYUSH credibility at national and international levels.

Emerging Issues:

Even with great progress, AYURSWASTHYA Yojana suffers from various challenges. Slow release of funds and delayed approvals tend to hamper the implementation of projects, impacting continuity. Limited involvement of non-government organizations hampers outreach to the grassroots level. Only partial integration of AYUSH with general healthcare services hinders its broader use in public health programs. Additionally, monitoring and evaluation systems need to be strong to ensure measurable impact and accountability. Increased need in sports medicine, lifestyle disease control, and mental health points to shortages in trained manpower and infrastructure. Providing solutions to these issues is necessary in order to maintain impact and expand future interventions.

Way Forward:

It is advisable that the Ministry give utmost priority to the timely disbursement of funds and simplify the procedures for approval to prevent delays in projects. Increasing cooperation with non-government organizations, research institutions, and grassroot bodies will facilitate enhanced outreach and inclusive growth. Improved integration of AYUSH practices into national health programs will facilitate increased acceptance and accessibility. More focus should be given on capacity development, evidence-based studies, and innovation to enhance AYUSH credibility at the national and international levels. Further, focused attention towards sports medicine, lifestyle diseases, and mental well-being will meet evolving demands, backed by strong monitoring and evaluation systems.

References:

Government of India, Ministry of AYUSH. (2023, July 25). Salient features of Ayurswasthya Yojana (Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question No. 482). https://sansad.in/getFile/annex/260/AU482.pdf?source=pqars
Government of India, Ministry of AYUSH. (n.d.). Guidelines for Central Sector Scheme for Ayurswasthya Yojana. Government of India. https://ayush.gov.in/resources/pdf/schemes/Ayurswasthya.pdf
Press Information Bureau. (2022, July 26). Implementation of Ayush schemes. PIB Delhi. https://www.pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1845012
Press Information Bureau. (2025, March 25). Ministry of Ayush has taken multiple initiatives towards integration of Ayush systems of medicine with allopathic system. PIB Delhi. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2114965#:~:text=The%20Ministry%20of%20Ayush%20has%20been%20implementing%20the%20Central%20Sector,to%20the%20centre%20of%20excellence.
Government of India, Ministry of Ayush. (2025). Annual report 2024–2025. http://www.dbtayush.gov.in/resources/pdf/annualReport/AR_2024_2025.pdf
Government of India, Ministry of Ayush. (2024). Annual report 2023–2024. https://ayush.gov.in/resources/pdf/annualReport/English-Annual-Report-12-Dec-2024.pdf

About the Contributor:

Atharva Salunke is a Policy Research Associate at NITI TANTRA and a Research Intern at IMPRI. He has recently graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Sir Parashurambhau College, Pune.

Acknowledgement: The author extends his sincere gratitude to the IMPRI team and Ms. Aasthaba Jadeja for her invaluable guidance throughout the process.

Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.