India Created Yoga And The West Made Billions, What Exactly Did We Protect?

When you sip on a $7 turmeric latte at a café in Los Angeles or attend a $2,000 yoga retreat in Bali, do you think of India? You should. But chances are, the profits aren’t flowing back to the country that birthed these ideas, Financial analyst Hardik Joshi recently sparked a viral conversation by asking a hard-hitting question: “We created yoga, Ayurveda, turmeric. The world made billions off it. What exactly did we protect?” It’s not just a rhetorical jab, it’s a mirror held up to a country that has long been the wellspring of ancient wisdom, yet somehow forgot to secure its place in the global marketplace.

India gave the world yoga, Ayurveda, turmeric, cotton, and spiritual wellness long before these were monetized globally. Yet when you look at who owns the top wellness brands today, be it yoga apparel giants like Lululemon, or skincare brands touting “Ayurvedic” ingredients, you’ll rarely find an Indian name behind them. This isn’t just an emotional loss. It’s a financial catastrophe. According to the Global Wellness Institute, the global wellness economy was valued at over $4.5 trillion as of 2022, and is growing exponentially. Yoga alone is a $100 billion global industry. But India’s share of that pie? Shockingly small.

In the early 1990s, American companies attempted to patent the healing properties of turmeric. Yes, our haldi. It was only after Indian scientists submitted ancient Sanskrit texts as evidence of traditional knowledge that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office revoked the patent. But that was just one win in a much bigger war. India’s patent law, specifically Section 3(p) of the Indian Patents Act, disallows patents on traditional knowledge. The intention was to prevent cultural exploitation, but it also inadvertently prevented Indians from building global IP-based empires around their own heritage. Foreign entities, on the other hand, have no such restrictions.

India’s answer to this crisis was the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), a vast archive documenting ancient knowledge in multiple languages. It was designed to stop biopiracy. But a library is not a brand. A government archive does not sell yoga mats, health supplements, or spiritual retreats. Despite efforts from ministries like AYUSH, India still lags in brand-building, global certification, and premium product positioning. What Bali did with yoga, or the West did with turmeric, shows how storytelling and marketing matter just as much as the product itself.

Part of the problem is cultural. Many Indians still believe that spirituality and commerce should not mix. That charging money for yoga or Ayurveda is somehow inauthentic. But while we ponder morality, others build empires. Yoga, once a sacred practice, is now a billion-dollar brand. And yet, India, the land of its origin, is often reduced to a footnote. Western influencers become “gurus,” turmeric becomes “golden milk,” and Ayurveda is marketed as “Eastern alternative medicine” with no mention of its roots.

India can no longer afford to be the originator of ideas without also being their global custodian. To prevent further cultural and economic exploitation, strategic reforms are urgently needed. First, intellectual property (IP) laws must be updated to allow Indian individuals and institutions to claim ownership over traditional knowledge without compromising its sacred value. Second, India must invest in global branding, creating high-end, authentic Indian wellness brands just as Japan did with Zen and France with wine. Third, the government and private sector should actively support entrepreneurs who blend Indian heritage with contemporary design, packaging, and storytelling, giving our ancient wisdom a modern global appeal. Lastly, establishing a credible “Made in India” certification for yoga schools, Ayurvedic clinics, and herbal products can create quality benchmarks that ensure trust, authenticity, and premium positioning on the global stage. Only then can India reclaim the economic and cultural value

Hardik Joshi’s viral post wasn’t just about economic leakage, it was a cry to wake up. If India doesn’t reclaim its cultural legacy through branding, business, and IP, it will continue to be the cradle of ideas and the graveyard of profit. In a global economy where storytelling sells and branding builds nations, India must stop being just the origin, it must become the owner. Or else, the next time the world profits off something we gave freely, we’ll be asking again: “What exactly did we protect?”

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