Fashion trends dictate the demand for herbs
You would have built up a wide network of suppliers in the 25 years you have been in this trade...
Oh yes. We procure medicinal plants through a network of traders, cultivators and other local sources. For example, we procure cultivated ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) from Madhya Pradesh and chob chini (Smilax china) collected from the wild in the Northeast. Plants like guggul (Commiphora mukul) come from Pakistan, while mulethi (Glycyrrhize glabra) is procured from Afghanistan and Iran.
And do practitioners of traditional medicines (TM) buy these materials from you?
No. Practitioners buy from retailers. They require a large variety of herbs in small quantities. It is not possible for us to handle these orders. A large part of our supplies are to companies that process the material for value addition, and then export it. We also sell medicinal plants to small traders, who further sell it to the manufacturers of herbal products or to practitioners.
So practitioners rely on small traders for supplies to make their medicines