In recent years, there is growing interest among foreign players to enter India’s healthcare sector

through capital investments, technology tie-ups, and collaborative ventures across various
segments, including diagnostics, medical equipment, hospitals, and education and training. For
example:
• Singapore's Pacific Healthcare has made its first foray into the Indian market, opening an
international medical centre, which is a joint venture with India's Vitae Healthcare, in the
Indian city of Hyderabad.
• The Singapore based Parkway Group Healthcare PTE Ltd penetrated into the Indian health
care market in 2003 through a joint venture with the Apollo group to build the Apollo
Gleneagles hospital, a 325-bed multi-speciality hospital at a cost of US$ 29 million.
• Columbia Asia Group, a Seattle-based hospital services company, a worldwide developer and
operator of community hospitals, has started its first American- style medical centre in Hebbal,
Bangalore. Columbia Asia is the first hospital to enter the Indian healthcare market through
the Foreign Direct Investment route.
• Wockhardt, the international arm of the Harvard Medical School, which also has a strategic
association with Harvard Medical International, has set up a new hospital (a tertiary service
provider) in Bangalore at a cost of around Rs. 200 crores.
• The Parkway group has also entered into a joint venture with a Mumbai-based Asian Heart
institute and research centre to set up specialised centres of medical excellence in Mumbai.
• Max Healthcare and Singapore General Hospital (SGH) have entered into collaboration for
medical practice, research, training and education in healthcare services.
• Steris, a US$ 1.1 billion healthcare equipment company, plans to set up a wholly owned arm in
India to sell its devices and products in the country’s booming medical device market. Steris
plans to make an initial investment of US$ 1,00,000 to set up the wholly owned subsidiary.
• Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd has entered into a joint venture with Amcare Labs, an affiliate
of Johns Hopkins International of the US, to set up a diagnostic laboratory in Hyderabad. An
initial amount of US$ 2.2 million is to be invested and the laboratory is likely to be operational
by mid-2006.
• India’s first geriatric hospital, the Heritage Hospital of Hyderabad has formed a joint venture
with US-based United Church Homes to recruit, train and provide placement to registered
Indian nurses in USA.
• The US-based healthcare products major, Proton Health Care has made an entry into India
with its range of digital health monitoring devices and has a strategic tie-up with the Delhibased
S M Logistics for distributing its products in the Indian market.
• The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), a Non-Resident Indian
group will be launching two pilot projects in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh in July 2006 to help
improve India’s healthcare in rural areas. The AAPI has committed itself to the improvement
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of primary healthcare under a memorandum of understanding during the Pravasi Bharatiya
Divas, the annual conclave of the Indian diaspora, with the government.
The following section discusses the nature and

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