Globally, there is a revival of investor interest in healthcare, and Asia-Pacific is drawing most of it. India is emerging out of the periphery here due to a clutch of macro trends as well as evolving consumer and producer behaviour. It helps that the policy environment favours capital infusion into healthcare production and delivery.
Rising per-capita incomes in one of the fastest-growing insurance markets – driven by health insurance – has changed consumer preference in favour of large private hospitals. The pandemic has shaped private healthcare spending, while the share of public spending is also mounting. Founder-owners of hospital chains, too, are now more comfortable in relinquishing control to scale up and improve throughput by upgrading tech.
This capacity ramp-up follows India ratcheting up Covid vaccine production, and global biopharma companies deploying a China Plus-One strategy that should shore up generics output. Pharma is among the industries India has selected for PLIs. This is in addition to a deep talent pool and strengthening ecosystem for the drug industry.
India’s entire healthcare stack – hospitals, diagnostics, devices and drug trials – is growing furiously for its young population. The industry should come into its own about the time the country’s demographics begin to deteriorate. Increased capitalisation will drive consolidation before India acquires the hospital beds it needs, and the necessary quality of treatment provided in them.
Alongside chemistry and engineering, India will have to gain wider expertise in microbiology to be able to deliver biologics, medicine’s new frontier. Staying ahead in the generics game with large molecules is critical for India to provide healthcare all around.
