Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth has revolutionised healthcare by making medical consultations and treatments accessible globally. This transformation has not only bridged geographical gaps in India but also empowered rural communities and those with mobility limitations.

Telehealth has created new opportunities for patient engagement and cost-effective care delivery, democratising healthcare nationwide. Having built a solid foundation, its accelerated growth will only continue in leaps and bounds, inspiring hope for the future of healthcare in India.
 

What is telehealth?

Telehealth is the delivery and facilitation of healthcare and related services—including medical consultations, diagnosis, treatment, patient and provider education, health information services and self-care—through telecommunications and digital communication technologies. It encompasses telemedicine, mobile health (mHealth), remote patient monitoring (RPM) and AI-driven virtual healthcare solutions, enabling accessible and efficient remote care via synchronous and asynchronous methods like audio, video and text-based communications.

Telehealth and telemedicine are often used interchangeably, but they have distinct meanings. Telemedicine is a subset of telehealth, which is a broader concept encompassing various digital healthcare services that specifically refers to remote clinical services, such as virtual consultations, diagnosis, treatment and follow-ups between healthcare providers and patients.

While telemedicine is primarily focused on virtual consultations and treatment, telehealth has a much broader scope, integrating technology-driven solutions for healthcare access, monitoring, education and management. Both play a crucial role in expanding healthcare services, particularly in remote and underserved areas, helping bridge the healthcare accessibility gap in India and worldwide.

In India there is a variety of telemedicine platforms like Practo, Mfine and Tata Health that provide online doctor consultation services. Similarly, Apollo TeleHealth specialises in remote diagnostic and specialty care services.

From a government perspective, NITI Aayog’s Telemedicine Guidelines is a framework for legal and ethical teleconsultations in the country. Similarly, its telehealth initiatives have already made their mark in the health sector helping needy patients not only in urban areas but also in rural and remote parts of the country.

For example, initiatives like National Tele Mental Health Programme offers remote mental healthcare services, eSanjeevani is India’s national telemedicine service, providing doctor consultations and Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission is a digital healthcare initiative integrating telemedicine, EHR and health data management.
 

Remote healthcare transforming patient care in India

However, looking at the major problem areas, one has been the distribution of beds between rural and urban areas is uneven, with rural hospitals accounting for 36-37% of total beds and urban hospitals accounting for 63-64%. While the numbers of hospitals, beds and other amenities have steadily increased, as ratified by the National Health Profiles of 2022 and 2023, the difference remains relatively consistent. This is where telehealth has helped bridge the gap to provide world-class patient care to most of India’s population in rural areas with limited access.

The government is committed to providing equal access to quality care to all and digital health is a critical enabler for the overall transformation of the health system. Mainstreaming telemedicine in health systems will minimise inequity and barriers to access.

India’s digital health policy advocates use of digital tools for improving the efficiency and outcome of the healthcare system and lays significant focus on the use of telemedicine services, especially in the Health and Wellness Centres at the grassroots level wherein a midlevel provider/health worker can connect patients to the doctors through technology platforms in providing timely and best possible care

The Government of India and private entities, which include social enterprises and public-private partnerships, have launched new initiatives to enhance healthcare affordability and access in rural areas. E-clinics equipped with sophisticated information and communication technology (ICT) are being established in large numbers, with accreditation from various ministries. India’s national telemedicine service eSanjeevani3 provides quick and easy remote access to doctors and medical specialists. It has already had an enormous impact, having served over 340 million patients since its inception in 2021.

Operating on a hub and spoke model, patients can access eSanjeevani through the 1,76,534 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, formerly known as Health & Wellness Centres (HWCs) or through the online outpatient department (OPDs) module. It has helped close the healthcare gap, enhancing the quality of life for millions of rural Indian residents and even catalysing rural economic development.
 

Telemedicine improving healthcare accessibility

Telemedicine is particularly well-suited to addressing rural India’s diverse and often complex healthcare needs. Primary-care physicians and frontline healthcare practitioners usually provide essential and ongoing medical treatment to patients of all ages. They serve as the first point of contact for medical care, diagnosing and treating various illnesses and injuries, managing chronic conditions and promoting preventative health behaviours. This is where telemedicine can play a constructive role and reduce the burden on the healthcare system.

With ~527 million telecom subscribers, as of December 2024, and 2,30,742 providers onboarded on eSanjeevani, rural healthcare is transforming rapidly, realising India’s vision of healthcare for all.

More than 57% of eSanjeevani beneficiaries are women and approximately 12% are senior citizens. This demonstrates the scope and significance of telemedicine in understanding and meeting the unique healthcare needs of rural India.
 

Government initiatives promoting telehealth

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare9 has launched several programmes that use ICT to improve the efficiency of the public healthcare system through telehealth initiatives.

For example, averaging 3,500 calls per day, the National Tele-Mental Health Programme in India has reached a significant milestone registering reception of over 10 lakh calls on its Tele-MANAS toll-free number. Launched by the Government of India in October 2022 to enhance mental health service delivery nationwide, the Programme operates 51 Tele-MANAS cells across all states and UTs. The helpline numbers 14416 and 1-800-891-4416 offer multi-language support and have been pivotal in facilitating communication between callers and professionals.

Additionally, the National Health Portal11 aims to improve health literacy and increase access to healthcare across the nation by raising awareness and providing a centralised source of healthcare-related cost-effective information in six regional languages.

Similarly, adhering to the National Health Accounts Guidelines for India, 2016, the National Health Account (NHA) is a standardised framework that provides a detailed report on the financial flows of India’s healthcare system, tracking how funds are collected from various sources, spent and utilised. the NHA is a dynamic framework that adapts to and reflects changing policy, programmatic and health system contexts within the nation.

Developed by the Centre for Health Informatics (CHI), the PMSMA12 is a portal, dashboard and helpdesk that seeks to ensure complete and high-quality treatment for pregnant women across the nation. Since its inception in November 2016, the PMSMA has served 4,73,46,865 women through 20,752 facilities. It strives to offer free, high-quality prenatal care and has made significant strides.
 

Investment opportunities in India’s telehealth sector

The rapid adoption of telemedicine and other digital technologies to tackle healthcare delivery challenges in rural and remote areas of India, along with their applications in education, training and administration, presents a chance for astute investors to empower an emerging sector.

Opportunities for investors in the telehealth sector include manufacturing and producing wearable devices and patient-facing mobile health applications, as well as developing software and technologies for AI, surgical robotics, sensors, remote diagnostics, electronic records and monitoring systems. Valued at $1.54 billion in 2024, India’s telehealth sector is expected to grow at a 20.75% CAGR from 2016 to 2030.

Additionally, ₹105.9 crore has been spent till November 2024 on the Government of India’s tele-education and tele-medicine project named 'e-Vidya Bharati and E-Arogya Bharati (e-VBAB)', which was launched on October 7, 2019 as part of the commitment made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the third India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS-III) in 2015. Besides providing services to 22 African countries, including Benin, Guinea, Zambia, Malawi, Ghana, Congo, Sudan, Somalia and Nigeria, it is also offering 50,000 scholarships to African students, of which 15,000 are through online mode using internet/web-based technology.

The growth of telehealth has also seen the emergence of healthcare SaaS solutions like e-pharmacies and RPM applications. These include D2C SaaS platforms that allow virtual consultations, medication management via digital prescriptions, real-time patient data collection from connected medical devices and secure communication channels between pharmacists, patients and healthcare providers, often with medication reminders and adherence tracking. The global remote patient monitoring market alone is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 12.7% and reach $56.94 billion by 2030.

Furthermore, all healthcare education and training services are exempt from service tax. Healthcare services like telemedicine and remote radiology can receive a 250% tax deduction for approved operating technology expenditures. Domestically manufactured medical technology items can also receive an income tax exemption for 15 years.
 

Benefits of telehealth services for patients

Telehealth is a practical boon for treating patients unable or unwilling to travel—such as senior citizens, pregnant women or those with disabilities—and for managing conditions that do not necessitate a laboratory visit or physical examination. Other benefits include easy access for people living in rural and remote areas, reduced overhead costs and less chance of getting infected.
 

How can investors capitalise on the growth of telehealth?

Telehealth in India has helped improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness and bridged the rural-urban divide to provide access to medical services. Established in January 2019, the NHA, is a statutory entity in charge of promoting and implementing e-health standards, privacy, security, storage and the exchange of all electronic health data.

It has published a Health Data Management Policy, which acts as a guidance document and sets out the minimum standard for data privacy protection. It includes details on notice and consent, the right to access and erase records and the acquisition, use and storage of personal data. An electronic consent management architecture gathers and keeps verifiable records of user consent.

The Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission has further improved openness and dependability by incorporating digital identity services. The Ayushman Bharat Health Account is a unique identifier that allows Indian citizens to securely save and exchange medical information with doctors, hospitals and laboratories.

With pioneering programmes that address crucial difficulties on a large scale, India is at the vanguard of the global digital health transition. As a key supporter to WHO’s Global Initiative on Digital Health, launched during India’s presidency of the G20 Summit in 2023, India has emerged as a global leader in promoting collaboration, interoperability and equitable access to digital health solutions.

Global investors have a unique opportunity to make a long-lasting impact on India’s healthcare sector by solving unique challenges in the industry through innovation and technology, making healthcare more accessible, affordable and equitable. However, unique challenges might crop up that could become stepping stones to big opportunities for global investors in the telehealth sector.