Amol Naikawadi, Joint MD, Indus Health Plus
The government should play a role of a catalyst so that we can create a culture of prevention. A healthy India can play an important role in making India a $5 trillion economy.
We may see a special budget allocation for preventive healthcare, and we recommend including a separate tax exemption element in 80D with a limit of Rs 30,000 per taxpayer annually for preventive health checkups including genetic testing for self and family. This will encourage people to go for regular health screening and help us make India a ‘Healthy India’. In addition, special tax incentives for preventative healthcare should be provided to organisations and institutions at Rs 1000 per-employee basis, incentivising them to invest in their employees’ health and well-being. Furthermore, a zero-rating or minimal GST on healthcare services is required to minimise costs for healthcare providers. Medical value travel is an important growth opportunity for us and supports the government’s initiative of ‘Heal in India’. Income tax exceptions for earnings from medical value travel will increase the focus on this category. As a result, the benefit will be passed on to the end consumers, lowering the overall cost of medical treatment.
Dr Sunita Dube, Founder, MedscapeIndia
The health workforce should be developed in the country to manage crises such as the COVID-19 outbreak. Medical facilities should be provided to every citizen of the country without any discrimination. The two-year long now again and the continuing effect of the pandemic has seriously affected the progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Moving ahead, India’s key health targets like a reduction in the U5MR to 25 per live birth or less, ending the AIDS epidemic and tuberculosis, reduction of mortality by non-communicable diseases, and addressing mental health issues, digital health, skilled critical care staff, reduction custom duty require a larger financial commitment in the budget.
Saransh Chaudhary, President, Global Critical Care, Venus Remedies and CEO, VMRC
The upcoming Budget should aim at establishing India as the Pharmacy of the World by enhancing the manufacturing and research capabilities of the pharma sector through special allocations, tax concessions, incentives and grants. The government should allocate funds for setting up Special Economic Zones to boost drug manufacturing and research. These SEZs should be exempted from GST with the larger objective of putting up a self-sufficient infrastructure in place to enable Indian companies to move up the global value chain.
The finance minister should address the concerns relating to rising input costs, particularly the steep hike in API prices, by offering incentives to domestic API manufacturers on one hand and bringing about a reduction in GST and import duty on APIs on the other.
Considering that cutting-edge R&D holds the key to value creation, the government should announce incentives and grants for cost-intensive research, particularly in critical care segments, and get the Research-Linked Incentive scheme going. All the material procured by pharma firms for R&D purposes should be exempted from taxes. We must create a viable ecosystem to enable R&D-driven pharma companies in India to compete globally by offering interest subsidies, extending tax concessions to exporters and doing away with GST on clinical trials and research projects.
We also expect the finance minister to allocate funds to improve the pharma supply chain and distribution infrastructure by syncing it with the latest digital technologies to ensure better access and uninterrupted deliveries in real-time. These emerging technologies can go a long way in working our way up the value chain through the reduction in costs and improvement in quality, thus giving Indian pharma companies a decisive edge.
Vikram Thaploo, CEO, Apollo Telehealth
The government’s efforts in rolling out an open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem (also known as Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission or ABDM) and launching the National Tele Mental Health Program are genuinely noteworthy. However, additional funding allocations are required to further accelerate the expansion of the healthcare sector, particularly telemedicine.
The 15th Finance Commission recommended the Centre increase healthcare spending and indicated that public health spending in India should account for 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2025. The Center is expected to spend around Rs 86,000 crore in FY23, somewhat higher than the Rs 84,000 crore authorised in FY22. The Indian health tech market had a $1.9 billion market value in 2020. With a 39 per cent CAGR, it is projected to reach $5 billion by 2023. From 2019 to 2024, the digital healthcare market in India, which was valued at INR 116.61 billion in 2018, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 27.41 per cent, reaching Rs 485.43 billion. The industry is growing at a spectacular rate as a result of its expanding coverage, services, and rising investment by both public and private participants.
With more technological innovations expected to revolutionise the healthcare industry in the years to come, the budget must be well allocated to initiate innovations. This is especially important in a country like India where digital technology can help bridge the gap in healthcare. Increased allocation of funds for home-based care, promotion of telemedicine services, and national digital health mission implementation will further help build a strong healthcare ecosystem in India. There should also be a renewed focus on R&D in different medical fields to strengthen the present standing. Overall, we are anticipating a rise in fund allocation of 2.5-3 per cent of the GDP with regard to the healthcare sector.
Namit Chugh, Investment Lead, W Health Ventures
The increase in the allocation of the budget for the National Health Mission (NHM) and the launch of the ‘National tele-mental health programme’ in the last Union Budget 2022, was a step forward in the right direction. We expect this budget to increase the allocation for mental health and further build resilience of national mental health infrastructure, as well as incentivise the strengthening of the talent pool of counsellors and mental health professionals – to handle the massive mental health challenge we are facing. We need additional investment in skilling other healthcare personnel such as nurses and lab technicians as well.
On the digital front, now that a robust platform and infrastructure for managing digital registries of healthcare providers and patients is created, there is a dire need to boost adoption and accessibility. The government should allocate more budget for rolling out this initiative. The creation of longitudinal data for the masses will unlock several use cases such as data interoperability, personalised healthcare recommendations, hyperlocal pharmacy data, etc., and will further accelerate India’s digital health agenda.
Mr. A Ganesan, Group Vice Chairman, Neuberg Diagnostics
When asked about the need for the government to step in and provide budgetary provisions to address the challenges faced by medical establishments in current times, the Group Vice President of Neuberg Diagnostics, Mr. A. Ganesan, said that “I believe one of the major problems at the moment is medical establishments such as hospitals and diagnostic centers often face delays in receiving payment from government departments like CGHS, NHS, and ESI Hospitals, which can cause working capital difficulties for MSMEs. ” He also said, “I believe that the Hon’ble Finance Minister should consider raising the income tax allowance in respect of payments made under the Annual Health Check under Section 80D.”
Mr. A. Ganesan also mentioned the need to levy a nominal GST on output services to reduce costs. He believes the Union Finance Minister should consider allocating at least 6 to 7% of the budget for healthcare. He also said that “doctors and hospital chains should be encouraged to use “Made in India” medical devices with some fiscal incentives to make India a major medical device manufacturing country.”
He also emphasized the need for higher tax benefits for preventive healthcare. He suggested increasing the current allowance under Section 80-D from Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000 for individuals towards expenses incurred on preventive health checks. He also suggested a separate section for allowance towards preventive health checkups instead of clubbing it with the healthcare insurance premium.
With the current situation of the healthcare industry, it is important to create an environment where medical establishments can thrive and provide quality healthcare to the citizens of India.
Yogesh Mudras, Managing Director, Informa Markets in India.
Healthcare & Pharma Industry
“The Union Budget 20- 23 should look at strengthening the system of the Pharma industry, with more focus on capital outlay. It should emphasise measures to facilitate the ease of doing business and contribute to the Pharma industry’s long-term growth. To achieve the vision of reaching $120 bn -$130 bn by 2030, the budget should outline supportive policies, simplified regulations, and simple GST norms to aid in the development of the pharmaceutical industry. There is also the need to look at Tax breaks and incentivising innovation, which would further help fast-track the industry and fuel the growth of neglected areas of innovation and R&D. The budget can look at allowing CSR funds to flow into blended finance for telemedicine and e-health to improve affordability and push the UHI across all the public and private medical establishments. Government can also rationalise the duty structure by reducing high customs duty to 2.5% on medical devices to ensure patient affordability and easy access to quality medical devices. Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)s are the way forward for creating a more sustainable healthcare system. While last year, the government recognised the importance of production-linked incentives (PLI) for the Active Pharma Ingredient (API) industry, this year’s Union Budget should review it yearly to encourage self-reliance in raw material production and make manufacturing more competitive.”
