With one of the youngest populations in the world, an aspiring middle class, rapid urbanisation along with digital transformation and a thriving startup ecosystem, India is poised to become Viksit Bharat by 2047 with a projected GDP of $ 30 trillion.
While India is innovating, digitising, and industrialising, but for the country to truly lead and drive inclusive growth, it must focus and invest in its invisible infrastructure–the human capital and their well-being.
Investing in preventive health including everyday care has far reaching ramifications beyond health alone, strongly co-related to workforce productivity and economic benefits. A 2023 Lancet study found Indians have only seven years of peak productivity between ages 20 and 64. This is largely attributed to preventable conditions and illnesses.
With rising health care costs as well as low doctor-to-patient ratio, preventive care is not just essential, it is fundamental for the progress of the nation. Furthermore, it has potential of reducing pressure on secondary and tertiary health care system which continues to push people into poverty.
This indicates the urgency for India to prioritise preventive care and within this everyday care making it central to our country’s growth agenda, as when people are well, it makes them feel whole.
Today, the global consumer health care (CH) market is sizeable and is growing steadily. Though India’s consumer health market is less mature than global counterparts currently, it is expected to grow nearly 2.5X (14.3% CAGR: Source IQVIA) compared to the global growth between 2024-2030, which reinforces the huge opportunity.
While India has focussed on curative health, the pandemic exposed the limits of this reactive model and saw people prioritising self-care. Today, consumers are more aware and conscious looking for better and healthier solutions.
Kenvue in its foundational report, A New View of Care: The Power of Personal Care Routines reinforced the importance of personal care routines in consumer lives. Personal care routine can be defined as a broad range of practices that people regularly engage in to support their overall well-being, including consistent use of personal care products for skin, hair, oral care, taking vitamins and supplements, over-the-counter products like allergy and pain medications, and engaging in activities like eating well and practicing mindfulness.
As per the report, 75% Indians believe their personal care routines impact their overall health and well-being, 45% consumers feel these routines prevent future health issues. In fact, 69% Indian consumers say they wished they started their personal care routines earlier. Many Indians now look at these routines as contributing to overall health (49%), skin health (49%), confidence (48%), and even addressing stress or burnout (37%). Such personal care routines are not only daily acts of self-care but increasingly play a role in supporting overall well-being.
This trend is most evident amongst younger generations especially GenZs who are embracing everyday care, spending more time on personal care routines be it oral health, skin health as well as seeking healthcare recommended products. Indians are increasingly viewing personal care routines beyond beautification or aesthetics, using mouthwashes beyond bad breath to address oral concerns, using sunscreens to prevent burns and risks of skin cancer or investing skincare products as an investment to prevent signs of aging. We are seeing the emergence of the everyday care economy which is set to become a key pillar of India’s health agenda.
Traditionally, the ambit of preventive care has remained narrow – focusing mainly on nutrition, screenings, diagnostics, and immunisation or mindfulness related activities. Within this, what is missing is the role of everyday care that creates a strong foundation within preventive health model. Everyday care delivers the greatest value when individuals have both access as well as high health literacy. While it is important to make everyday care solutions to more accessible and affordable, it is equally important to create awareness and shift mindsets, where everyday care rituals are seen as taking a proactive approach to health.
To build a holistic health strategy, policymakers play a crucial role through awareness initiatives as well as improvements in healthcare infrastructure. Government initiatives like Ayushman Bharat, National Health Mission and Swasth Nagrik Abhiyan are some notable examples.
However, to become Viksit Bharat, there is a further need for an evolved regulatory framework that enables advancements and promotes both Ease of Doing Business as well as healthy living for citizens. The minimum government, maximum governance needs to be adopted by sectoral authorities and regulators to bring a progressive, modern and globally harmonised regulatory framework which will give necessary impetus to this sector. A significant step in this direction formal/structured models to embed self-care within preventive care and reforms like introduction of a separate OTC regulation and a dedicated and modern cosmetic Act to unlock the full potential of the sector. These progressive reforms will also help realise India’s vision of Make in India, Make for the World.
The future of the everyday care economy is a shared responsibility, where policymakers, health care professionals, pharmacists, corporates, not-for-profit, research bodies and consumers need to work together to nurture a healthier India. To help build a nation where individuals are empowered about everyday care it is crucial for consumers to have access to improved resources to enhance health literacy along with health infrastructure. Within this, health care companies not only must innovate products but also spearhead health literacy with consumer education or social impact initiatives to train and equip community workers that take everyday care to the last mile.
Everyday care has immense potential in complementing formal health systems, especially in countries like India which face a significant healthcare burden. By including everyday care within the broader national health agenda, will result in enhanced quality of life and improved public health outcomes creating transformative impact.
This article is authored by Manish Anandani, managing director, Kenvue India.
