New Delhi: The health industry or the health economy is an integration of sectors within the ecosystem that provides goods and services to treat patients with care. The healthcare industry is one of the world’s largest and fastest growing sector consuming over 10% of the GDP of most developed nations, while in India, healthcare is the largest sector both in terms of revenue and generating employment. The country plans to create at least 1 million skilled healthcare providers in the next three years. Indian healthcare comprises of hospitals, medical devices and equipment, clinical trials, telemedicine, medical tourism, and health insurance. The sector is growing at a brisk pace due to its strengthening coverage, services and increasing expenditure by public as well private players. India’s competitive advantage lies in its large pool of well-trained medical professionals and being cost competitiveness compared to its peers in Asia and other Western countries. The cost of surgery in India is about one-tenth of that in the US or Western Europe.
The Indian medical tourism market is growing at the rate of 18% year-on-year and there is significant scope for enhancing healthcare services, considering that healthcare spending as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product is rising at a fast pace. Even health insurance is gaining momentum in India with gross direct premium income increasing year-on-year. The Government of India is also leaving no stones unturned by providing major initiatives to promote the Indian healthcare industry by allocating Rs 35,600 crore towards nutrition related programmes, establishment of a new AIIMS at Haryana and launching the PMJAY scheme to provide Rs 5 lakh each to over 100 million families every year. The country has also become one of the leading destinations for high-end diagnostic services with tremendous capital investment for advanced diagnostic facilities. There are vast opportunities for investment in healthcare infrastructure in both urban and rural India. Max Healthcare Institute Ltd has recently got itself listed on the Indian stock exchanges and the stock is currently quoting at around Rs 115. Analysts tracking the sector are not expecting the financial results for the next two quarters to be any bit exciting. But with demand in healthcare services expected to pick up exponentially in the near future post Covid, the Max Healthcare Institute stock can deliver more than 30% returns in the next 18 months’ time frame. Portfolio investors can buy the Max Healthcare stock in smaller lots and periodically buy at regular intervals for long term superior gains.