Chinese Investors Looking For Health, Wealth & Happiness In India

In BW Disrupt Dialogue Series organised by Redcliffe Capital and BW Disrupt at Le Meridian Hotel, Gurgaon, Chinese Investors spoke about the healthcare sector including their investment plans in India, present market status and highlighted future opportunities as well.

The panel was moderated by Harsha Vardhan, Founder & Group CEO, Med Achievers. Harsha started the conversation by asking about what kind of investment opportunities do the Chinese VCs see in terms of healthcare in India. From the data science point of view, what do you see from the medical devices, post investment perspective?

First on the panel to speak was Pan Song, Founding Partner, QiGoal Group. Prior to this position, he was a Managing Director of Fosun Group, the largest private conglomerate in China dedicated to becoming one of the premium investment groups in the world. He said, “Chinese investors want to bridge the gap between hospitals, infrastructure, equipment, making this economy more viable in terms of utilisation. The other investors besides me understand healthcare as an expert. We need to build technology that can support health care so that we can have quality care. We want to bring in IT services to facilitate the process of healthcare more accessible. The cost of healthcare is very high in India and it has a sizable population devoid of basic healthcare facilities, we want to make healthcare inclusive.”

Next in line was Tom Tang, Founding Partner, Snail Capital, he expressed his views on the investment opportunities in India & said, “We want to act choosy about whom we pick for investment in India. India is an economy of the size where we can scale up operation faster. Medical tourism is increasing in India hence more medical tools are required to connect people with specialists.”

Grace Wang, Founding Partner, Traxis Capital, she precisely shared her perspective & plans for the health sector in India. She said, “India and China share some similarity and differences in every sector. We are looking more for research and technology in healthcare. We are also interested in the medical and cosmetic industry. China is going the manufacturing way and deep research in tech, our hold is on R&D and in high-tech innovation.”

Interestingly, Sun Tzuohming Eric, President/ CEO, Beijing ARCDAT included how technology could serve as a catalyst in the whole process of driving change in the health sector. He said, “From the data science perspective, tremendous consumer data can be collected on the basis of which services can be moulded. I am not saying that new data need not be collected but I am saying that old data and government data can be a great help. There are some specific triggers in China and some others are specific for India like Diabetes, AIDS in medical. Old stock data needs to be analysed and community value needs to be derived for collaboration against causes like breast cancer and all.”

In a concluding tone Tom Tang, Founding Partner, Snail Capital, added, “The medical channel community is large in China as the public is also involved. The medical functions are not the responsibility of the government alone, the investment come from this channel and also the equipment come from this channel. This is the main differentiator that everything is managed by machines. So this is my vision for India.”

At the last Dr Yan Zhang, VP, Lowa Capital, said, “India and China will collaborate and support each other in giving medical investment. In Speciality industry, dentistry change is doing good. But I feel there is a lot of awareness needed to be raised in India with regard to bio-medical waste disposal. We are looking at this type of sector to invest.”

The event was a great success in terms of in-depth discussions and generating the knowledge about Chinese investor interest in India's market, especially in the healthcare sector. The question, however, remains how much Indian entrepreneurs and the community can trust the vision & plans of the Chinese in the light of mistrust between the two governments. Can international trade & commerce grow in terms of investments & innovation if the bigger tussles are not solved between India and China?