Healthcare has become the largest sector in India for both revenue and employment. Healthcare comprises hospitals, medical devices, clinical trials, outsourcing, telemedicine, medical tourism, health insurance and medical equipment. Indian healthcare delivery systems are categorized into two major components – public and private. The Government, i.e. public healthcare system comprises limited secondary and tertiary care institutions in key cities and focuses on providing basic healthcare facilities in the form of primary healthcare centres (PHCs) in rural areas. The private sector provides majority of secondary, tertiary and quaternary care institutions with a major concentration in metros, tier I and tier II cities.

The Indian healthcare sector is growing rapidly due to its strengthening coverage, services and increasing expenditure by public as well private players. India’s competitive advantage comes with industry leading well-trained medical professionals. India’s health care costs are much cheaper compared to the premium healthcare costs of other Asian countries and European countries. Surgery in India is often 1/10th of the cost of surgery in the United States or Western Europe.

Studies show that the Indian Healthcare industry is receiving strong interests by the private equity funds. The overall Indian healthcare market is worth around US$ 100 billion and is expected to grow to US$ 280 billion by 2020, a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 22.9 per cent.Key players of the wide and diverse spectrum of Indian healthcare are Medical devices, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and more recently the medical tourism sector. Healthcare delivery, which includes hospitals, nursing homes and diagnostics centers, and pharmaceuticals, constitutes 65 per cent of the overall market.

The overwhelming growth of the healthcare industry poses significant growth opportunities for the cleanroom markets and the aseptic devices necessary for contaminant-free production. Over 80 per cent of the antiretroviral drugs used globally to combat AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) are supplied by Indian pharmaceutical firms. These drugs require the aseptic modular cleanroom facilities to conduct safe and sustainable production.

India requires 600,000 to 700,000 additional beds over the next five to six years, indicative of an investment opportunity of US$ 25-30 billion. Given this demand for capital, the number of transactions in the healthcare space is expected to witness an increase in near future. The average investment size by private equity funds in healthcare chains has already increased to US$ 20-30 million from US$ 5-15 million.

India is a land full of opportunities for players in the medical devices industry – including the medical device cleanroom industry. The country has also become one of the leading destinations for high-end diagnostic services with tremendous capital investment for advanced diagnostic facilities. As Indian markets demand increased medical device supply, the cleanroom industry in India will be ripe for growth. This growth will include the need for cleanroom manufacturing and service, cleanroom products, cleanroom components and cleanroom construction supply.