A report on ‘Investment Opportunities in India’s Healthcare Sector’ has been released by NITI Aayog. The reportwas released by NITI Aayog Member Dr VK Paul, CEO Amitabh Kant, and Additional Secretary Dr Rakesh Sarwal.
In the first section, this report provides an overview of India’s healthcare sector, including insights about its employment generation potential, the prevailing business and investment climate as well as the overarching policy landscape. The second section highlights the key drivers of growth for the sector and the third section elaborates upon the enabling policies and investment opportunities in 7 key segments, including hospitals and infrastructure, health insurance, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, medical devices, medical tourism, home healthcare as well as telemedicine and other technology-related health services.
The report states that Indian’s healthcare industry has been growing at a Compounded Annual Growth rate of around 22% since 2016. At this rate, it is expected to reach USD 372 Billion in 2022. Healthcare has become one of the largest sectors of the Indian economy, in terms of both revenue and employment. In 2015, the healthcare sector became the fifth largest employer, employing 4.7 million people directly. As per estimates by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), healthcare can generate 2.7 Million additional jobs in India between 2017-22 over 500,000 new jobs per year. India’s healthcare industry comprises hospitals, medical devices and equipment, health insurance, clinical trials, telemedicine and medical tourism.
These market segments are expected to diversify as an ageing population with a growing middle class increasingly favours preventative healthcare. Moreover, the rising proportion of lifestyle diseases caused by high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, poor diet and alcohol consumption in urban areas is boosting demand for specialised care services. In addition to these demographic and epidemiological trends, COVID-19 is likely to catalyse long-term changes in attitudes towards personal health and hygiene, health insurance, fitness and nutrition as well as health monitoring and medical check-ups.
The pandemic has also accelerated the adoption of digital technologies, including telemedicine
