How AI Is Impacting India’s Healthcare Industry

The emphasis on AI marks a pivotal moment for the future of diagnostics, treatment and medical research in India. According to an Indian government policy think tank, NITI Aayog, the potential of AI to transform India’s healthcare sector is immense. The technology offers solutions to many of the challenges faced by India’s healthcare system, especially in terms of dealing with a shortage of healthcare professionals in the most remote corners of the world’s most populous country.

To improve accessibility to medical services in rural areas, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is backing the power of AI, focusing on developing broadband connectivity for primary health centers under BharatNet and by providing more than $1 billion in funds for growth of AI-driven digital health services in India’s 2025 union budget.

The government is digitalising the healthcare system via the National Digital Health Mission, which aims to create a unified health ID for every citizen, linking their health records and enabling seamless sharing of health data. This initiative is expected to generate vast amounts of structured data, creating a fertile ground for growth of AI applications in healthcare.

In addition to the state run schemes, large conglomerates are enabling AI’s expansion in the healthcare sector, and the use of AI in the Indian healthcare market is forecasted to grow at 40.6% to reach $1.6 billion in 2025. Tata Group, through its innovation arm Tata Elxsi, is working on AI-powered medical imaging solutions. In 2024, Google formed an AI partnership with India-based medical device startups Forus Health and AuroLab to scale screening for diabetic retinopathy.

One of India’s largest digital healthcare startup, Practo, is employing the multilingual ability of AI to power its telemedicine services, which are removing language barriers and enhancing healthcare accessibility considerably.

During the pandemic, AI was deployed for predicting outbreaks, but nowadays its usage has spread across the spectrum of different kinds of devices and services.

In the realm of diagnosis, AI is processing large volumes of data quickly and accurately in scans like CT, MRI and X-rays, where human eyes might overlook minute anomalies. Bengaluru-based startup Sigtuple has developed a digital pathology platform that can by itself analyse blood samples remotely. Their system is bringing specialist diagnostics to areas without access to specialist care, hematologists.

Post-diagnosis, AI is freeing up healthcare professionals to concentrate more on patient experience by automating time-consuming repetitive tasks, follow-ups, patient inquiries, and appointment scheduling. The generative AI systems are also improving in medication adherence rates.

Ayush Jain, CEO of healtech provider Mindbowser says, “The pre-configured AI solutions empower healthcare providers to foster trust and build stronger patient-provider relationships and streamline their operations. These advancements simplify healthcare delivery and create a more supportive and connected care journey for patients.”

To assist patients in recovery phase, India’s largest hospital chain, Apollo Hospitals, has designed India’s first AI-Precision Oncology Center (POC), which educates patients and family on diagnosis, treatment FAQs and connections to support groups.

In addition to playing an intricate role in the latter stages of drug delivery, AI is generating synthetic images to study conditions that have limited real-world data available. The technology is helping researchers to analyse scientific literature, to identify patterns, discover new research topics and generate hypotheses in the formulative stages of drug research.

Globally, the use of AI in the medical sector has proved to offer numerous benefits. Machine learning algorithms are assessing biological data, anticipating drug-target interactions, and optimizing chemical structures, resulting in significant savings in terms of time and resources used.

“In healthcare more than half of the clinical decisions are still imprecise, so the use of AI and structured data can help make more and better precise decisions,” Michael Sen, CEO of Fresenius, told CNBC at the World Economic Forum last year.

However, despite recognizing AI’s advantages, India is still grappling with several roadblocks to accelerate its adoption in the healthcare sector. The ethical and regulatory frameworks for AI in healthcare are still evolving; the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has released guidelines for AI in healthcare, but more comprehensive regulations are needed.

The lack of high-quality, structured healthcare data in India poses a significant hurdle for the effective deployment of AI, along with significant data privacy and security concerns. The digital divide in India poses another challenge. While urban areas have seen rapid digital adoption, rural areas still lag behind. Bridging this digital divide and ensuring that AI-powered solutions reach all segments of the population will require significant investments capacity building, specialised training in healthcare AI.

Even though India’s National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence has identified healthcare as one of the key focus areas, according to a survey done by EY, the majority of Indian companies (53%), including those in healthcare, are in the beginners stage of AI implementation, and only a small fraction (7%) have advanced to the explorers stage.

Realising AI’s full potential in driving transformation of India’s healthcare industry will require a synchronised collaborative effort amongst all stakeholders.

The public has to become more familiarized about AI-powered solutions, hospitals must become more willing to leverage products developed by tech companies, and the government must create the necessary regulatory frameworks to develop forward-thinking policies that balance innovations with patient safety.

In forthcoming years, establishment of this synergy around AI in the Indian healthcare system could set new benchmarks in terms of quality, develop medical solutions to address its own needs, and it could revolutionize the country into becoming the world’s laboratory, where the future of global innovation for healthcare around the world is being currently crafted.