Indian lifesciences industry considers it would be the start-up and digital ecosystem in the country which is expected to give a fillip to the much-needed innovation.

The huge potential of the Indian pharmaceuticals market cannot be ignored by the foreign companies in view of the fact that it will be one of the top 10 sales markets by 2020, said Dr Sujay Shetty, Leader, PwC India.

In 2017-2020, around $51billion worth of drugs are expected to go off patent in the US. This is where India with its quality science teams are set to capitalize with its capability to manufacture a substantial share of these drugs with research on novel products, said the industry observers.

Experts at IISc and NCBS point out that the government efforts like Make in India and Start-up India has taken many steps to reduce costs and bring down healthcare expenses. Speedy introduction of generic drugs into the market has remained in focus and is expected to benefit the Indian pharmaceutical companies. In addition, the thrust on rural health programmes, lifesaving drugs and preventive vaccines also augur well for the pharmaceutical companies, stated industry experts.

According to Rajeev Banduni, co-founder & CEO, GrowthEnabler India,  needs an ecosystem for start-ups to scale-up. Only technology can facilitate knowledge sharing leading to cross pollination of concepts. An emerging opportunity in lifesciences and particularly med-tech  is artificial intelligence. There are a couple disruptive technologies but the need of the hour is that early stage companies have to interact and collaborate.

US attracts around one-third of total funding as Google, IBM and Apple are slating huge investments in healthcare, followed by Japan, Germany and China. “India’s contribution is miniscule despite a promising start-up scenario. Going forward, artificial intelligence is expected to stimulate growth. The  Start-Up India; Make in India initiatives and enabling process of ease of doing business will favour emergence of novel concepts,” noted Banduni.

According to Ram Meenakshisundaram, senior vice president; global delivery head, Cognizant Life Sciences, this industry has come a long way in digitizing at periphery and now is looking to  adopt this in core areas of operations. These include areas spanning from genome sequencing to development of bionic limbs.

“Job creation is a big challenge for India. This is where start-ups are vital for employment generation to sustain productivity. The existing well-known industries need to collaborate with start-ups and colleges to create the specific pool of talent,” said Banduni.

Scalability for any business model in Indian healthcare involves the three pillars: people, process and technology. India does not lack in qualified and quality talent, said Kunal Sen, senior vice president, TeamLease Services Limited.

Healthcare and pharmaceuticals segment has been one of the leading industry segments in terms of attracting PE/VC investments so far, said Kaustav Ganguli, Healthcare Lead and senior director with Alvarez & Marsal. Therefore the industry sees that start-ups and digital ecosystem to spur innovation.