Blog

The Indian healthtech market is growing at a 39 percent CAGR to reach $5 billion by 2023, according to the IAMAI-Praxis report titled ‘HealthTech Predictions 2021.’ The report, which was launched today, revealed that the health technology market currently stands at $1.9 billion, which is only 1 percent of the total Indian healthcare market.

COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has pointed out the gaps in the healthcare segment and has also brought in opportunities for solving the gaps. It also led to an accelerated acceptance of digital healthcare.

According to the report, the healthtech growth is mainly being driven by a) customers, who are more readily adopting healthtech, b) healthcare workers, who are becoming familiar with technology, c) the government promoting telemedicine and creating digital healthcare backbone through the NDHM. 

“COVID-19 turned out to be the much-needed catapult to push the customer adoption by two to three times, which if this pandemic had not occurred would have taken another four to five years. There was an increased adoption towards online consultation, e-pharmacy, homecare services, and e-diagnostics. Even hospitals started redesigning their strategy and increased its focus to acquire patients through online channels,” the report noted.

Healthtech data to keep in mind

The report revealed that the pandemic increased the demand for technology-based solutions and gave rise to opportunities for the stakeholders to solve the shortcomings.

“Healthtech saw a tremendous increase in consumer adoption towards online consultation, e-pharmacy, etc. However, the next wave of growth is expected to arise from technology-led business models driven by AI/ML, which will help consumers have faster and better care,” Aryaman Tandon, Managing Partner, and Co-founder, Praxis Global Alliance said in a statement.

The report revealed that:

• E-pharmacy saw a 200 percent increase in the number of orders in 2020 and its adoption increased by more than 2x post-COVID;

• The number of consultations on teleconsultation platforms increased by 300 percent in 2020;

• About 80 percent of the customers going for teleconsultation were first-time users;

• Government initiatives such as the announcement of Telemedicine Practice Guidelines, National Digital Health Mission (NDHM), and eAccess to healthcare will be crucial for the sector;

• The Indian healthtech sector has received ~$3.4 billion in funding since 2014.

• India’s e-diagnostics market stood at $0.07 billion in 2020, and is growing at a CAGR of 66 percent.

The report also revealed that the healthtech sector also faces certain challenges such as uncertainty over notification of e-pharma rules, consumer attitudes, and limitations of India’s technological infrastructure. 

“The widespread adoption of technology in healthcare will bring about a paradigm shift in access to healthcare wherever there has been a gap. The ‘HealthTech Predictions 2021’ report help stakeholders navigate and consolidate such a shift and subsequently bridge gaps in access,” said Prashant Tandon, Founder and CEO, 1mg, and Co-Chairman, IAMAI HealthTech Committee.