India’s home health care industry to reach $10 billion by 2025

India’s home health care industry will break through $10 billion barrier in the next half a decade, as people demand care at home for a variety of reasons. This is according to new RedSeer Consulting analysis.

Home healthcare is as it sounds – treating ailments in a professional manner at home. For a number of reasons, home healthcare is coming to be a norm amongst various health stakeholders in India, from patients to doctors and even insurers. This entry into the mainstream has already taken the segment to more than $5 billion in market value.

According to RedSeer analysts, these figures will continue to grow in the lead up to 2025, most likely at an accelerated rate. In the most modest of growth scenarios – if home healthcare grows 2% slower than the total healthcare market – the segment will break through the $10 billion barrier by 2025.

Provided that home healthcare grows at par with the sector as a whole, the numbers could jump beyond $11 billion. Then there is the aggressive growth scenario, where home healthcare could grow 2% faster than healthcare in India, taking it to the $13 billion mark in the next five years. As the report presents it, there is little reason to believe that the growth rate will not pan out at the higher end of this spectrum.

For one, gaps in India’s existing healthcare infrastructure have made hospital care a negative experience for most patients. India currently has 7 beds for every hundred patients and a single nurse for every thousand, and healthcare consumption is only set to increase further. The result is a lack of quality care. Health outcomes across the country are below par due to the lack of personalised attention for patients, who’s needs are unique.

Add to this the fact that going to the hospital actually increases the chances of catching infections diseases, particularly in overstretched Indian facilities where conditions are often unsanitary. In fact, 25% of patients in India are at risk of developing a ‘Hospital Acquired Infection’ (HAI).

Half of all in-patient expenditure in India comes on lifestyle diseases that require regular care and checkups, which means 50% of India’s patients expose themselves to these HAI risks on a regular basis. This is in addition to the cost and hassle of visiting the hospital. Indeed, intensive care in India comes out to a cost of between Rs. 35,000 and Rs. 50,000 per day. 

Home healthcare tackles each of these issues. Care is available and personalised, and selected by the patient. For regulars, it represents a convenient and low-cost solution. All this while avoiding the additional HAI risk. At a time when infection risks are top of mind even outside of hospitals, home healthcare is only expected to boom in demand.

The rapid rise of online healthcare has already been noted against this backdrop, and industry players are also starting to act on the demand for home healthcare. Models of organised home healthcare are visible across developed markets, where the segment is further along in its growth trajectory.

According to RedSeer Consulting, India will also see growth in the the organised home healthcare fore over the next five years. Currently at just over 1% of home healthcare spending, organised channels will grow at a 40% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) till 2025 to occupy nearly 2.5% of the home care market.