Says Ramesh Babu, manager, national sales operation, "We already have couple of corporate members. As stress levels among software professionals are high, we think IT companies can opt for an ayurvedic solution."

According to him, HLL is open to establishing Ayush centres within an IT company''s complex provided it affords privacy and separate entry and exit points . HLL has already opened a centre at GRT Grand Hotel, Chennai.

Incidentally, HLL has set up 18 Ayush centres in the seven cities where IT companies are clustered. "Our centres are located in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Goa. We will be expanding the network only in these cities first."

Last year the Ayush centres attracted around 97,000 clients, of which the eight centres in Chennai alone accounted for 50 per cent. This year Babu expects the number of clients to go up by around 11,000. "The average client retention is around 55 per cent," he adds.

The Ayush therapy centres are a result of HLL''s partnership with Kerala''s Arya Vaidya Pharmacy (Coimbatore) Limited (AVP) started a couple of years ago. While AVP would provide qualified ayurvedic doctors for the centres and the medicines, HLL would manage the franchisees and also retail its Ayush Spa range of products like soaps, shampoos, cough syrup and pain relievers-roll on and cream. The Ayush centres also offer holistic therapies like ayurvedic massages, diet, yoga (21 day course) and meditation.

HLL is also planning to expand its Ayush Spa range by launching herbal oils. The company will source the product from AVP.