With his first clinic in a garage, this doctor's Ayurveda business now clocks Rs 90Cr turnover
Jiva Ayurveda is an Ayurvedic consultation and treatment platform that has over 500 doctors and 80 clinics, and aims to provide end-to-end solutions from consultation to treatment.
Shri Satya Narayana Dasa, Rishi Pal Chauhan, and Partap Singh Chauhan, three brothers, spent their childhood near nature.
Shri Satya Narayana Das, Director of Jiva Institute, the educational arm of the Jiva Group, went to IIT-Delhi and bagged a well-paying job in the US. However, he saw that many people were facing depression and were unable to combat lifestyle challenges.
This led him to renounce the world and move to Vrindavan. Seeing his elder brother adopt such a life, Partap Chauhan also wondered what his mission in life was. He decided to find answers in Ayurveda, and took up a course in the subject.
The challenges of taking up such a niche subject were plenty.
Chauhan says, “Nobody was fond of Ayurveda in those times; not students or teachers. The general perspective was that people who didn’t get admission in a course in allopathy used to opt for Ayurveda courses.”
But he decided to choose the road less travelled and build a career in Ayurveda.
Dr Partap Chauhan, Director, Jiva Ayurveda
He met a vaid, Nanak Chand Sharma, (a renowned ayurvedic doctor and the founder of Kaya Maya Ayurvedic Pharmacy and Hospital in Delhi), in the second year of college. The vaid became his mentor, and after graduating in Ayurveda, Chauhan studied with his mentor for another five years in a guru-shishya parampara.
“A lot of people think of Ayurveda as a medical stream. But, it is a way of life that helps you gain a deeper understanding of your body, mind, senses, emotions, and soul. It helps you understand your body and mind better,” he explains.
Determined to spread this knowledge to the world, Chauhan decided to start an Ayurveda clinic. Those were the days when money was extremely scarce.
He says, “We three brothers were determined to bring about a change through Ayurveda in the realm of education, healthcare, and culture.”
Hailing from a village called Palla in Faridabad, the three brothers decided to use their home for their activities.
The first floor was used to open an Ayurveda school while the family lived on the ground floor. Chauhan built his first clinic in 1992 in the garage. He says, “I didn’t have money to buy any furniture. With old chairs, a rack, and some medicines I had taken from my guruji, I started the clinic.”
It took some time for the clinic to gain traction since awareness was limited.
To help more people learn about Ayurveda, he would travel to Vrindavan and give free consultations to the pilgrimages there during weekends. He treated many foreigners, and in 1994, one of them offered Chauhan the chance to teach Ayurveda in France.
Chauhan believes that everybody needs Ayurvedic knowledge because "everybody is suffering". And for that, he decided to travel the world, teaching the subject to numerous people.
The milestones
Chauhan's passion for technology saw the birth of world's first Ayurveda website in 1995, and the first Ayurveda app, TeleDoc, in 2003.
His vision to reach out to the world led him to launch an Ayurveda channel, Care World, in 2006, which made a record of 8,000 consultations per day and was also featured in the Limca Book of Awards. He claims that the digital and TV platforms have impacted over 100 million patients in over 100 countries.
is an Ayurvedic consultation and treatment platform. With over 500 doctors and 80 clinics across Delhi, Indore, and Pune, Jiva Ayurveda aims to provide end-to-end solutions from consultation to treatment.
The company has a manufacturing unit in Faridabad. The raw materials for the medicines come from several parts of the country especially, Rajasthan, Chitrakoot, and Bundelkhand.
Jiva Ayurveda has now crossed turnover of Rs 90 crore.
Madhusudan Chauhan, Director, Jiva Group
The evolution
Over the years, Jiva Ayurveda’s consultation systems have also transformed.
Madhusudan Chauhan, son of Rishi Pal Chauhan, Chairman of the Jiva Group, joined the business in 2007. He has been leading marketing, retail and distribution operations ever since, and has also been responsible for introducing artificial intelligence and machine learning to the diagnostic platforms and systems for better outcomes and transparency.
He says, “We have created an entire diagnostic protocol engine based on machine learning.” Leveraging technology has helped create personalised services for patients and using AI has helped arrive at the root cause of the ailment of the person.
“An entire trail of questions exists in the backend that the doctor asks the patient. The system is designed in a way that it questions and re-questions to arrive at the root cause of the ailment and helps the doctor make better decisions.”
Partap Chauhan and Madhusudan have made sure that Ayurveda is a part of their daily business activities as well. The office of the company is not made of bricks and cement; bamboo, cow dung, and mud have been used in the edifice.
Madhusudhan says that Jiva Ayurveda is disrupting the $3.5 billion Ayurveda industry as it is marrying the roots of the east with the advances of the west.
Jivagram, a health and wellness centre near Faridabad, offers an Ayurveda-focused lifestyle.
Ayurveda for everyone
With several Indian Ayurveda brands in the market such as Patanjali and Dabur, Chauhan feels India is still "facing a big challenge in getting real Ayurveda. A lot of pseudo-Ayurveda knowledge is available in the market, and is being consumed by Indians”.
This is primarily why Jiva Ayurveda doesn’t plan to enter the FMCG market. “We want to keep the authenticity alive,” he says.
Jiva Ayurveda is a business with solutions for everyone. The company recently launched Jivagram, a health and wellness centre on the outskirts of Faridabad, to provides personalised healthcare Ayurvedic services. People from all over the world come here to experience an Ayurveda-driven lifestyle.
“Fifty percent of the Ayurveda is for healthy people,” says Madhusudan, adding, “We have plans to launch services for lifestyle suggestions for cases pertaining to menopause, pre-menstruation, and pre-conception. We have already launched Jiva AyurBaby, a preconception programme. A postnatal programme, Jiva AyurMom, is in development, along with other preventive care offerings.”
(Edited by Suman Singh)