India is looking forward to the year 2022 as the year promises to carry the burden of changing realities, aspirations and challenges flourishing in its milieu amidst the pandemic. As the country stands at the precipice of rapid growth post the pandemic with its green restart strategies, all eyes are set on the manufacturing sector to spearhead this growth and the move towards sustainability. In 2022, India’s investment outlook will be dominated by a greater emphasis on clean and sustainable growth, as well as using local production strengths – in other words, decarbonization and deglobalization.

Life Sciences, Health Care and Pharmaceuticals

In light of the ongoing pandemic, health has risen to the top of the priority list for both individuals and governments. The pandemic in India exposed various flaws in the country’s current healthcare system; nevertheless, the government has responded quickly with reforms and legislative adjustments to address the problems. However, better support is still required for long-term growth and nation-building. According to Invest India research, India’s healthcare industry will be worth $372 billion by 2022. Hospital business account for 80% of the healthcare industry in India, and it is predicted to increase at a CAGR of 16-17% to $132.84 billion by FY22. The healthcare sector is mushrooming by many folds and there is a huge scope of big and small start-ups and mid-size companies to explore the Indian market to cater the growing demands of healthcare system.

Financial Services and FinTech

Fintech innovation is exploding in India, as technology drives innovation in financial goods and services on a daily basis. India has the greatest fintech adoption rate in the world, at 87 percent, much above the global average of 64 percent, thanks to reasons such as the Digital India programme, a favourable policy environment initiated by the Indian government, and the presence of a large talent pool. India is the future of fintech and industry 4.0, according to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. By 2025, the Indian fintech industry, which has received over US$27.6 billion in financing, might be worth more than US$150 billion. During the pandemic, when every other industry faced a slowdown in growth, the fintech industry grew at a rapid pace. Fintech is the next big sector in India and with the conducive policies by the national and state governments there is a huge scope for national and international start-ups in this sector.

Clean Tech and Automobiles

India’s renewable energy sector is expected to boom in 2022, with an estimated investment of more than USD 15 billion as the government focuses on EVs, solar equipment manufacturing, green hydrogen, and meeting the ambitious 175 GW renewable capacity target. These trends picked up last year with government policies incentivizing electric vehicles production and purchasing and PLIs for advanced auto technology and advanced chemical cell (ACC) batteries. India has somewhat more than 150 GW of installed renewable energy producing capacity, with an aim of achieving 175 GW by 2022. Government has recently also initiated hydrogen utilization policy. Moreover, Clean Tech and automobiles sector both sectors are really promising for start-ups especially for India as market is huge, government Is highly supporting. 

E-commerce

Led by e-commerce giants Amazon India, Flipkart, Myntra, etc., the Indian e-commerce market  is riding high on consumption growth spreading to tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Consumerism has picked pace since 2005 on the back of favourable market conditions and policy support. India’s e-commerce market size was approximately US$50 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach US$200 billion by 2027. This upsurge of the e-commerce industry post waves of the COVID pandemic is also confirmed by the 2021 Global Payments Report published by the fintech firm Worldpay FIS. The report forecasts 84 percent growth for the global e-commerce sector, which could reach US$111 billion by 2024, propelled by mobile shopping. The market is huge as mentioned, but recently several start-ups venturing into this space can plug the gap of time of delivery and customer faster service. 

EdTech

India is a significant player in the global education market. The country features one of the world’s most extensive networks of higher education institutions. According to a report produced by transaction consulting firm RBSA Advisors, India’s EdTech business is expected to grow to $30 billion in the next ten years. In the last five years, the industry has garnered $4 billion in private equity investments, resulting in the establishment of global EdTech heavyweights like Byju’s. COVID-19 has also propelled this sector to cater maximum students and working professionals, opening up a huge market for EdTech companies and opening the doors for several start-ups.

The Indian government is increasing collaboration and developing bridges with other countries in order to provide additional stimulus to its rising and above-mentioned sectors, as well as the start-up ecosystem. Apart from collaborations through short-term tech projects, the government has also developed a number of start-up centres to strengthen its international contacts and address important global concerns. The Global Technology Interface (GTI) provides a robust and user friendly platform to showcase products and services to multiple Indian companies and government agencies to select innovative projects to solve the market problems.