New Delhi: India needs private capital to expand healthcare capacity, but the sector must ensure that investment strengthens quality, access and patient outcomes rather than becoming narrowly focused on financial returns, industry leaders said during the panel, “Rise of PE in Indian Healthcare: Capital, Care and Control”, at the ET Healthcare Leaders Summit.
Moderated by Vikas Dandekar, Editor-Pharma & Healthcare, The Economic Times Group, the discussion brought together differing perspectives on how India can balance capital, care and control as private investment in healthcare grows.
Dr. Girdhar Gyani, President, AHPI, argued that India’s capacity deficit makes fresh investment unavoidable. “If the money is being put into the system, obviously the expectation will be that they get some return on investment,” he said, adding that capital from different sources should be welcomed. He also called for transparent costing of medical procedures, noting: “Quality healthcare is going to cost, but the absence of quality healthcare is going to cost a life.”
Distinguished Prof. K. Srinath Reddy, Chancellor of the PHFI Institute of Public Health Sciences, cautioned that capital should not remain concentrated in tertiary healthcare. “Universal health coverage has to be primary healthcare-led,” he said, calling for seamless integration across primary, secondary and tertiary care. His test for private equity was clear: “If it comes in to build a balanced healthcare system with accountability, with ethical norms, fine.”
Dr. Shuchin Bajaj, Founder and Director, Ujala Cygnus Hospitals, warned against equating affordability with the lowest possible price. “Let us not confuse affordable healthcare with cheap healthcare,” he said. For investors, he advocated patience: “Healthcare takes a much longer time,” making alignment between investor timelines and healthcare institution-building critical.
Dr. Devlina Chakravarty, Managing Director and CEO, Artemis Hospitals, said returns and responsible healthcare need not be contradictory. “The return does not mean that you are doing something which is not supposed to be done,” she said. Artemis’ approach, she added, rests on “best-in-class outcomes, ethical practice and service excellence”, alongside selective use of external capital.
Sandhya Sriram, Group CFO, Narayana Health, urged the industry to broaden the debate beyond investment structures. “The first question we should ask is quality. The second question we should ask is trust,” she said. Narayana Health’s integrated insurance model, she explained, aims to move beyond episodic “sickness care” by intervening earlier and managing health over time.
Harsh Mahajan, Founder & Chairman, Mahajan Imaging and Labs, placed quality at the centre of affordability. “Quality healthcare costs money,” he said, arguing that greater scale, organisation, diagnostics and early detection can improve efficiency. His recommendation was to “focus on prevention and early diagnosis because that will make healthcare affordable”.
From the investment perspective, Himanshu Kohli, Co-founder, Client Associates, said private equity can provide more than financing by strengthening technology and governance. “If private equity thinks only in terms of valuation, it is only a number,” he said. “Can they create sustainable value, which is creating an institution? That is where they can come into the picture.”
Across the panel, the dividing line was therefore not capital versus care, but what kind of capital healthcare attracts—and whether it is structured to build institutions, strengthen trust and expand quality care sustainably.
