Pharmaceutical Industry
Pharmaceutical market currently stands at 23.6 billion USD (Source: Deloitte) in Indian subcontinent. This Industry under normal market conditions should grow to 55 billion USD by 2020 (Source: McKinsey). As per 'Pharma Vision 2020', the Government of India aims to make India a global leader in end-to-end drug manufacturing. The growth drivers are listed below.
- Rise in lifestyle diseases.
- Rise in income levels along with awareness.
- Phenomenal increase in health insurance coverage.
- Government sponsored programs focused on the BPL segment.
- Overall increase in population.
- Manufacturing cost in India is approximately one third of that in US due to low installation and manufacturing costs, hence.
- Indian players will have cost advantage.
- MNCs will continue to invest in India.
Even with the Indian manufacturers facing flak from US FDA, India still remains the largest exporter of medicines to US and has the largest no. of US FDA approved plants. This industry in India is expected to grow at 15-20% CAGR and would require around 21,50,000 employees by 2020 (Source: Pharmexcil, Ministry of commerce). This would mean that finding the right talent won’t be as easy and partnering with an industry expert for hiring needs can create a competitive advantage.
Healthcare Industry overview
The Indian healthcare sector which is expected to reach US$ 200 billion by 2020 is composed of segments like hospitals, healthcare infrastructure, medical devices, clinical trials, outsourcing, telemedicine, health insurance and medical equipments. This positive growth sign can be attributed to rising healthcare expenditure and confidence expressed by the world in Indian healthcare facilities. This is creating a large market for hospital information systems and other healthcare-related IT solutions.
Demand Driving Factors
Increase in patient population due to surge in lifestyle diseases.
- Rising Medical awareness, has contributed to faster diagnosis and treatment.
- Affordable treatment costs.
- Growth of medical tourism.

- The Union Budget 2013-14 presented by Mr P Chidambaram, the then Minister of Finance, Government of India, for the healthcare are as follows:
- Health for all remains one of the priority sectors for the Government.
- The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has been allocated Rs 37,330 crore (US$ 5.87 billion). Of this, the new National Health Mission that combines the rural mission and the proposed urban mission will get Rs 21,239 crore (US$ 3.35 billion), an increase of 24.3 % over the Revised Estimates (RE).
- Rs 4,727 crore (US$ 744.41 million) for medical education, training and research.
- There is a shortage of healthcare professionals which includes 2 million Physicians, 3.5 million Nurses, 8 million Paramedics. An even bigger number of medical support teams would be required in India.