The Indian healthcare sector has been growing at the rate of 12% per annum for the last four years.

The current US$ 35 billion healthcare industry in India is expected to reach US$ 75 billion in the next five years.

In 2004, national healthcare spending equalled 5.2% of GDP. This is expected to rise to 8% by 2012.

India has the fastest growing healthcare IT market in Asia, with an expected growth rate of 22%.

India is witnessing around 30% growth in medical tourism every year. According to a CII-McKinsey study, medical tourism in India could become a US$ 2.3 billion business by 2012 from the current US$ 350 million.

Around 1000 retail healthcare outlets are expected to be set up across India in the next three years.

Health insurance grew by a robust growth rate of nearly 44% during 2006-07. With less than 10 per cent of the population having some sort of health insurance, the potential market for health insurance is huge.

India has become the most favoured healthcare destination for Africa, the Middle East, South-East Asia and developing countries like Bangladesh, Mauritius, Tanzania and Yemen. NHS of the UK has indicated that India is a favoured destination for surgeries.

India is emerging as a low cost base of manufacturing medical devices for the global healthcare market. General Electric (GE), a global leader in the medical equipment business, is making India a global hub for its medical systems business.

With the growing number of hospitals and laboratories, the demand for the latest medical instruments has increased tremendously in the last few years. Currently over 60% of India’s medical equipment is imported.

According to industry estimates, the Indian diagnostics and pathology laboratory business is around US$ 864 million, growing at a rate of 20% annually.

Outsourcing clinical trials has increased tremendously in the country and is offering enormous business opportunities for global players. Almost all the major global players are outsourcing their clinical trials to India as a result of its low cost base and diverse population.