Hemidesmus Indicus, also known in ancient Ayurveda medicine as Sugandi,
has been revered for its medicinal properties for nearly a thousand years.
Surveys in India, initially conducted in 1991- 1993 and repeated in 2000, 2002, 2003 and 2007, revealed that the population of Gyps bengalensis had fallen by 2007 to 0.1% of its numbers in the early 1990s,
with the population of Gyps Indicus and G. tenuirostris combined having fallen
to 3.2% of its earlier level.