According to a recent report from the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), healthcare has become one of India's largest sectors, both in terms of revenue and employment. The industry is growing at a remarkable pace owing to its strengthening coverage, services and increasing expenditure by the public and private sector.

Factors driving the healthcare market in India Include:

• Growing incidence of lifestyle diseases
• Rising demand for affordable healthcare delivery systems due to the increasing healthcare costs
• Technological advancements
• Emergence of telemedicine
• Rapid health insurance penetration and government initiatives like e-health
• Tax benefits and incentives

There are also strong growth indicators in Indian healthcare expenditure over the coming years. Between 2008 and 2022, the market is expected to record a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 16.28% and the total industry size is estimated to touch $372 billion by 2022. Similarly, the hospital industry in India stood at $61.79 billion in 2017 and is expected to increase at a CAGR of 16-17% to reach $132.84 billion by 2022.

According to KPMG, the healthcare sector in India offers a potent mix of opportunities and challenges. The significant gap between ‘required’ and ‘actual’ healthcare infrastructure has driven considerable investment into assets like hospitals and other facilities over the years. In turn, the growing availability and affordability of healthcare is spurring demand for other services like diagnostics, pharmacies, equipment etc.

The growth story of the healthcare industry is also contributed to by many non-healthcare corporates and private equity firms infusing (capital and non-capital) resources. Due to the lower cost of procedures, India has become an attractive destination for medical tourism and a base for clinical trials. 

KPMG highlights the challenges that the Indian healthcare sector faces on its way up as the optimal utilisation of resources, minimising operational costs, maximising performance and efficiency, scaling of business, rapidly evolving technology and globalisation of healthcare delivery quality and standards.