India's healthcare industry has grown significantly in both employment and income. The expansion of coverage, services, and rising spending by both public and private entities are all contributing to the rapid growth of the Indian healthcare industry. The abundance of highly qualified medical personnel in India is a competitive advantage. Comparing India to its counterparts in Asia and Western nations, it is also cost-competitive. Surgery in India costs roughly a tenth of what it does in the US or Western Europe.
The Indian Healthcare industry continued its healthy growth in 2022 and reached a value of US$ 372 billion driven by both the private sector and the government. The e-health market size is estimated to reach US$ 10.6 billion by 2025. The Indian hospital sector, valued at US$ 95.86 billion in FY21, is expected to reach US$ 221.50 billion by FY27, growing at a CAGR of 18.24%.
As of 2024, the Indian healthcare sector is one of India’s largest employers as it employs a total of 7.5 million people. Progress in telemedicine, virtual assistants, and data analytics is expected to create 2.7-3.5 million new tech jobs.
The healthcare sector, as of 2024, is one of India’s largest employers, employing a total of 7.5 million people. A recent research report predicts that the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the Indian healthcare sector will create nearly 3 million new jobs by 2028.
Indian medical tourism market was valued at US$ 7.69 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach US$ 14.31 billion by 2029. According to India Tourism Statistics, around 634,561 foreign tourists came for medical treatment in India in 2023, which was nearly 6.87% of the tourists who visited the nation. India has been ranked tenth in the Medical Tourism Index (MTI) for 2020-21 out of 46 destinations by the Medical Tourism Association.
With US$ 5-6 billion size of Medical value travel (MVT) and 500000 International patients annually, India is among the global leader destinations for international patients seeking advanced treatment.
The number of allopathic doctors with recognised medical qualifications (under the I.M.C Act) registered with state medical councils/national medical council increased to 1.3 million in November 2022, from 0.83 million in 2010. As of 2023, the number medical colleges in India stood at 706.
Between April 2000-December 2023, the FDI inflow for the drugs and pharmaceuticals sector stood at US$ 22.37 billion, according to the data released by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Inflows in sectors such as hospitals and diagnostic centres and medical and surgical appliances stood at US$ 9.81 billion and US$ 3.26 billion, respectively, between April 2000-December 2023.
During 2022-23 (P) Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow in India stood at US$ 70,970 million.
India currently holds the fourth position in attracting VC funding to the health-tech sector, with investments of US$ 4.4 billion between 2016 and 2021, with US$ 1.9 invested in 2021 alone.
In the Interim Union Budget 2024-25, the government allocated Rs. 90,659 crore (US$ 10.93 billion) to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). The Government of India approved continuation of ‘National Health Mission’ with a budget of Rs. 38,183 crore (US$ 4.60 billion) under the Interim Union Budget 2024-25.
Government of India approves a Rs. 64,000 crore (US$ 7.7 billion) project for establishing 22 AI Institutes of Precision Medicine: This government-funded initiative aims to leverage artificial intelligence for advanced diagnostics and personalized healthcare, significantly impacting the sector.
The healthcare and pharmaceutical sector in India had M&A activity worth US$ 5 billion in 2023.
In September 2023, Nirma a diversified Indian conglomerate, acquired a 75% stake in Glenmark Life Sciences, a pharmaceutical company, for US$ 689 million. This transaction marked one of the biggest Indian healthcare M&A deals of the year.
In May 2023, Temasek, a Singaporean investment company, invested US$ 2 billion in Manipal Health Enterprises, a leading healthcare provider in India, highlighting the growing interest in the Asian healthcare market.
Flipkart Group has announced its foray into the healthcare sector through the launch of Flipkart Health+. As part of this development, Flipkart has signed definitive agreements to acquire a majority share in Sastasundar Marketplace Limited, which owns and operates SastaSundar.com, an online pharmacy and digital healthcare platform.
Aster DM Healthcare has announced that it is planning Rs. 900 crore (US$ 120.97 million) capital expenditure over the next three years to expand its presence in India, as it looks at increasing the share of revenue from the country to 40% of the total revenue by 2025.
AstraZeneca India has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Docon Technologies, a Bengaluru-based health start-up, to digitise 1,000 clinics across India by implementing customised electronic medical record (EMR) systems in clinics to offer doctors access to a patient’s complete medical history.
India has made its Covid-19 vaccination platform, CoWIN, open source for all countries. Almost 76 countries have displayed interest in leveraging the CoWIN platform to manage their national COVID-19 vaccination drives.
In November 2022, six pharmaceutical companies were chosen by the Indian Council of Medical Research to produce monkeypox vaccines - Serum Institute of India, Biological E, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Hester Bioscience Ltd., Indian Immunologicals Ltd., and Reliance Life Sciences.
As of November 18, 2021, 80,136 Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs) are operational in India, and 638 e-Hospitals are established across India as part of the central government's ‘Digital India’ initiative. Edelweiss General Insurance has also partnered with the Ministry of Health, Government of India, to help Indians generate their Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) number. As of October 2023, a total of 26 crore Ayushman cards have been created.
By March 2022, the Health Ministry’s eSanjeevani telemedicine service had already crossed 3 crore tele-consultations. Moreover, eSanjeevani telemedicine set a record by completing over 1.7 lakhs consultations in a single day. eSanjeevani telemedicine service of Union Health Ministry has crossed 3 crore tele-consultations.
Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi, while speaking at the global COVID-19 summit, said that India had shared its vaccine production with 95 countries and the UN peacekeepers. He also stated that India will supply COVID-19 vaccines to other countries after increased production. He also launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, which will connect the digital health solutions of hospitals across the country with each other. Under this, every citizen will now get a digital health ID and their health record will be digitally protected.
As of May 2021, 11.9 lakh Health IDs have been generated and 3,106 doctors and 1,490 facilities have registered on the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) platform.
The Uttar Pradesh government has announced the introduction of automatic medicine dispensing machines to expand the primary healthcare industry and clinical centres in the country.
Minister of Defence, Mr. Rajnath Singh, has launched the ‘Services e-Health Assistance & Tele-consultation (SeHAT)’ OPD portal to provide telemedicine services to armed forces personnel and veterans.
The Parliament has passed the National Commission for Allied & Healthcare Professions Bill 2021, which aims to create a body that will regulate and maintain educational and service standards for healthcare professionals.
The Government of India is planning to increase public health spending to 2.5% of the country's GDP by 2025. India's competitive advantage also lies in the increased success rate of Indian companies in getting Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) approvals. India also offers vast opportunities in R&D as well as medical tourism. To sum up, there are vast opportunities for investment in healthcare infrastructure in both urban and rural India.
