India’s cultural exports—yoga, Ayurveda, turmeric, cotton—are global bestsellers. But the profits, trademarks, and brand recognition? Those are largely in foreign hands. Financial analyst Hardik Joshi says it’s time to face an uncomfortable truth: India created the heritage, but others own the business.
In a widely discussed LinkedIn post, Joshi pointed to the global repackaging of Indian traditions—yoga retreats in Bali, turmeric lattes in Los Angeles, Ayurvedic skincare from brands with no Indian roots. Behind the trend lies a deeper issue: India’s failure to protect, brand, and profit from what it created.
“We didn’t borrow these from somewhere else,” he wrote. “They were born here, in our homes, our rituals, our land… But somewhere along the way, we forgot to protect them.”
Joshi attributes this gap to two factors: a cultural reluctance to commercialize tradition, and a systemic lag in building global-facing intellectual property infrastructure. While India remained the originator, other countries stepped in as operators—patenting uses of turmeric, trademarking yoga franchises, and branding wellness around Indian knowledge.
The post highlights structural weaknesses. India’s patent law (Section 3p) excludes traditional knowledge from protection. Oral transmission and lack of documentation made Indian systems easy targets for foreign patents—a problem seen in the infamous U.S. patent on turmeric’s medicinal use, later revoked after India provided evidence of prior use.
India has since built the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) and institutions like the Ministry of AYUSH, but Joshi argues that deeper issues remain. “We stay behind in raw materials. They lead in global margins.”
He frames it as more than an economic loss: “It’s about identity, value, and respect.” His final question: “What’s the next thing we’ll lose while the world cashes in?”
