Independent lab tests and evidence grades for Ayurvedic and herbal products
TL;DR Herbassay buys popular herbal and Ayurvedic products off the shelf, sends them blind to accredited labs and publishes what comes back - right herb or not, metals, microbes and whether the label dose is really there. Each product also gets a plain grade for how strong the research behind it is. Members and certifying brands pay.
A 2019 review of DNA testing found that 31% of 752 herbal products sold in India did not contain the species on the label[1]. That's nearly one in three. A JAMA study found toxic metals in 20.7% of Ayurvedic medicines sold online, and three-quarters of those products claimed good manufacturing practice[2].
The proof that any of it works is thin too. The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health says few well-designed trials or systematic reviews back Ayurvedic approaches[3].
So the buyer is stuck with two questions. Is it what the label says, and does it do anything at all? Right now nobody in India answers either one in a way that's easy and independent.
First, the important bit - Herbassay does independent product testing and consumer information, nothing more. It does not diagnose or treat, and it does not certify that any product cures a disease. Brands that use its results in ads still have to follow advertising law.
The seed wanted rigorous independent testing of therapies, which really means clinical trials. I'd reframe that. One proper trial per remedy takes years, and if brands pay for the trials then the tester stops being independent. So Herbassay tests what it can check cheaply and often, which is product quality, and grades efficacy from published systematic reviews.
Every month it buys 20–30 products from pharmacies and marketplaces, codes them and sends them to labs accredited to ISO/IEC 17025[4]. Free summaries go up as pass, fail or caution. Members get the full reports, comparisons and evidence notes, and brands can pay for their own products to be tested toward a certification mark, under rules that keep testing blind and results public.
There are two payers - members who want full reports and brands who want certification. In the US, the best-known independent supplement tester charges US$75 a year (about ₹7,250)[5], and it earns from both streams[6]. An Indian price has to sit far lower. My rough guess is ₹499–999 a year from members and ₹1–3 L per product from brands for certification testing. Exporters and marketplaces that need third-party reports are a third buyer, but nobody has tested that yet.
Ayurvedic marketing has taken some very public hits. In 2024 the Supreme Court acted against a major Ayurvedic brand's misleading ads, and Uttarakhand moved against 14 of its product licences[7]. Indian buyers have also shown they'll back an independent tester. One Indian testing channel built its following by filming its purchases and publishing failures in the open, funded by video-platform members and affiliate sales[8].
There's no published figure for an independent product-testing market in India. The nearest number is IBEF's, which puts Ayush manufacturing at US$24 billion in 2024 (about ₹2.3 lakh Cr)[9]. That's the shelf you'd be testing, not money you can capture.
The failure rate is the better signal. If roughly three in ten Indian products fail identity checks[1] then every results page you publish will have news in it.
That testing channel is the Indian precedent. It buys products itself, tests them blind and publishes passes and fails alike[8], though its public focus is supplements rather than Ayurvedic medicines. A US independent tester has run the member-plus-certification model since 1999 and lists 1,400+ product reviews[5][6]. The gap is an Ayurveda-first tester that adds evidence grading and publishes in Indian languages.
| Difficulty | Moderate (39/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹65 L–1.25 Cr |
| Time to launch | 4–6 months |
The labs do the testing, so you can start quickly. The hard bits are elsewhere. You need sampling methods that hold up when a brand challenges a result, a lawyer ready for defamation notices and a revenue model that doesn't tempt you to go easy on the brands paying you.
No licence is needed to publish test results, but the labs you use and the claims around your mark need care.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI decide a pass or fail. The lab result and a human reviewer decide, because one wrong verdict on a named brand can bring a legal notice.
Want to work out the AI layer for Herbassay? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I like this one, but it's a trust business and not a seal-selling business. If you have lab, food-safety or investigative journalism experience and a thick skin for legal letters then it's a good fit. If you want to sell certification marks first then skip it.
Start small. Test five best-selling ashwagandha or giloy products, publish the results and see whether 1,000 people pay for full reports within a month.
My estimate is ₹65 L–1.25 Cr, mostly for lab testing, buying products, the website and legal review. The kit has the breakdown.
It can be with two income streams, member subscriptions and brand certification. My rough guess is ₹499–999 a year per member and ₹1–3 L per product from brands, both untested.
Yes, an independent supplement tester already does it in the US. Lab accreditation and advertising rules differ, so check your local equivalents first.
The free Herbassay validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the testing and advertising-law checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for buyers and brands, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Herbassay or something close to it? The make-or-break work is a sampling and legal process that survives the first angry brand, and that's the kind of thing I help founders get right. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.