Asserting that Ayurveda presented a better health management option, a non-governmental organisation on Monday said India's export of herbal products could reach Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) by 2005 from its present figure of Rs 450 crore (Rs 4.50 billion) annually, and asked the sector to set an export target of Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) by 2010.

"The Indian export of herbal products is around Rs 450 crore per annum. It is estimated that it can go up to Rs 3,000 crore by 2005, and it can further go up to Rs 10,000 crore by 2010," Ved Prakash of the Lal Bahadur Shastri Foundation said at a seminar in New Delhi.

In his keynote address at the seminar titled 'Balancing life through Ayurveda and herbal products', Ved Praksh said the World Health Organisation, which earlier did not recognise alternative medical systems, has come to realise its vast potential, forecasting a global market at the level of Rs 250,000 crore by 2010 and about $5 trillion by 2050.

"The Indian market does not figure prominently in world markets because the Indian herbs are subject matter of adoption through family system and their use through local vendors and vaidyas," he said.

Clinical use of herbal products through established practitioners, recognition of herbal medicines for reimbursement under government schemes and by insurance companies and promoting India as destination for health parks based on herbal techniques are needed to boost the growth of the sector, he added.