There are over 400,000 registered homeopaths in India, with over 13 million homeopathic patients.

NEW DELHI: With the rise in health problems under the category of lifestyle diseases, the alternate systems of medicines like Ayurveda, Homeopathy have witnessed impressive growth over the years with time-tested methodologies and marketing techniques.

India's expertise in traditional treatments such as Homeopathy, Naturopathy, Ayurveda and Unani are becoming increasingly popular as these have no side effects, according to industry chambers...

There are over 400,000 registered homeopaths in the country currently, with approximately 13,000 more being added every year.

Amrit Kalsi, Senior Medical Officer, Delhi Government, says, "The demand for Homeopathic and Ayurvedic medicines has increased in the last few years and to cure chronic ailments such as respiratory diseases, fevers, skin diseases, viral infections, asthma and allergic disorders, people are choosing the traditional way of treatment before allopathic."

There were 28 homoeopathic dispensaries in Delhi in 1978 and the number now has gone up to 78. The number of patients taking homeopathic medicines has increased from around 800,000 patients in 1997 to 13,620,174 patients in 2006, she adds...

An industry report say that by 2010, domestic homeopathy market is expected to more than double and touch the Rs 26 billion (Rs 2600 crore) size. It would continue to grow at between 25-30 per cent against 13-15 per cent of pharmaceuticals industry as users of homeopathy are multiplying not only in India but also throughout the world.