CEOs discuss strategy for building new India at 91st FICCI AGM

Dec 15, 2018

Biology, Bytes and Bandwidth to drive healthcare sector in future:

Sangita Reddy, Vice President, FICCI

NEW DELHI, 15 December, 2018: Ms Sangita Reddy, Vice President, FICCI and Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group, said here today that the future of healthcare will be determined by 3Bs: Biology (role of genetics), Bytes (processing and computing ability and Artificial Intelligence) and Bandwidth (connectivity).

Addressing the 91^st Annual General Meeting of FICCI in the CEO's Panel Discussion, Ms Reddy said that healthcare, the world's largest sector in terms of the total spend, is going to see lot of transformation in times to come. India spends 5 percent of its GDP on healthcare taking public and private spend together, she said. Private sector is primarily the driver of healthcare sector, contributing 80% to advanced care and 20% to secondary care. Also, health is the 2^nd largest reason for rural distress and indebtedness. She concluded by saying that India can become an epicentre of healthcare by providing value care at 1/10^th of the cost in the developed world.

Moderating the session Dr Ajay Chhibber, Chief Economic Advisor, FICCI, said that health, energy and infrastructure were the key to building a New India. He emphasized on building India as an economic superpower with prosperity and happiness leading to more competitiveness.

Mr Sunil Wadhwa, Managing Director, GE T&D India Ltd., said that the power sector has huge forward linkages that can create a multiplier effect on GDP growth. He quoted an example wherein a micro grid project implemented by GE in Allahabad led to an increase in demand of energy, with forward linkages and contributed immensely to the economic activity of the region. He also talked about how the energy sector can contribute in nation building. He indicated that inadequate access to power is currently the biggest challenge in the energy sector which needs to be addressed.

Mr Shailesh Pathak, CEO, L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Ltd., mentioned that India will be the third largest economy in the world by the next decade, bypassing the US, Germany and Japan. He mentioned that construction sector is the second largest job creator in India and in order to build a New India there is a need string enforcement of contracts, timely closure of contracts and also leverage technology for infrastructure.

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Event

• FICCI's 91st Annual General Meeting