&w=3840&q=100)
India needs tax breaks, startup push to lead global wellness tourism
'To attract investment and improve service delivery, India should offer a mix of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, such as tax exemptions, increased subsidies under the Market Development Assistance (MDA) scheme, and technical support for marketing and promotion including on digital platforms,' the report issued on Thursday said.
It added that the introduction of targeted subsidies and grants for health startups and organisations working in health-tech, medical research and digital health solutions can directly support medical tourism.
This comes after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech earlier this year, outlined plans to promote medical tourism and the Heal in India initiative. This was to be achieved through collaboration with the private sector, capacity expansion and implementation of more accessible visa regulations.
To support this vision, the report recommended the introduction of global branding campaigns by leveraging embassies, expos and digital platforms, along with the launch of Heal in India missions at the national and state levels.
India's medical tourism market is projected to be worth approximately $18.2 billion in 2025, with estimates indicating a rise to $58.2 billion by 2035 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.3 per cent.
At the same time, the number of medical visas issued by India rose to 463,725 in 2024–25 from 375,000 in 2019–20. To cater to this increased demand, the report recommended the initiation of structured missions at both national and state levels to reinforce India's leadership in global medical and wellness tourism.
'Initiatives such as Ayush and e-medical visas have enhanced patient mobility; however, the absence of insurance portability continues to pose barriers,' the report stated.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
8 hours ago
- Mint
Nearly ₹29K cr sanctioned to SC/ST, women entrepreneurs since April 2022
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the government sanctioned ₹ 28,996.15 crore under 126,508 loan accounts to SC/ST and women entrepreneurs over the last three fiscal years. The finance minister, in reply to a Rajya Sabha question, said the objective of the Stand-Up India Scheme was to provide loans from scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) of value between ₹ 10 lakh and ₹ 1 crore to at least one scheduled caste (SC) or scheduled tribe (ST) borrower and one woman borrower per Bank branch for setting up a greenfield enterprise in the manufacturing, services, or trading sector and also for activities allied to agriculture. Apart from linking prospective borrowers with banks for loans, the online portal ( under the scheme provided guidance to prospective SC, ST, and Women entrepreneurs in their endeavour to set up business enterprises, starting from training to filling up of loan applications as per bank requirements, Sitharaman said. She added that the portal also facilitated step-by-step guidance for connecting prospective borrowers to various agencies with specific expertise, viz., skilling centres, mentoring support, entrepreneurship development programme centres, and district industries centres, together with addresses and contact numbers. The Stand-Up India Scheme was launched on 5 April 2016. According to the information shared by the finance minister in the upper house, 30,145 loan accounts with SCs were sanctioned for a total amount of ₹ ₹ 6,437.59 crore between April 2022 and March 2025.
Mint
9 hours ago
- Mint
Nearly ₹29K cr sanctioned to SC/ST, women entrepreneurs since April 2022
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the government sanctioned ₹ 28,996.15 crore under 126,508 loan accounts to SC/ST and women entrepreneurs over the last three fiscal years. The finance minister, in reply to a Rajya Sabha question, said the objective of the Stand-Up India Scheme was to provide loans from scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) of value between ₹ 10 lakh and ₹ 1 crore to at least one scheduled caste (SC) or scheduled tribe (ST) borrower and one woman borrower per Bank branch for setting up a greenfield enterprise in the manufacturing, services, or trading sector and also for activities allied to agriculture. Apart from linking prospective borrowers with banks for loans, the online portal ( under the scheme provided guidance to prospective SC, ST, and Women entrepreneurs in their endeavour to set up business enterprises, starting from training to filling up of loan applications as per bank requirements, Sitharaman said. She added that the portal also facilitated step-by-step guidance for connecting prospective borrowers to various agencies with specific expertise, viz., skilling centres, mentoring support, entrepreneurship development programme centres, and district industries centres, together with addresses and contact numbers. The Stand-Up India Scheme was launched on 5 April 2016. According to the information shared by the finance minister in the upper house, 30,145 loan accounts with SCs were sanctioned for a total amount of ₹ ₹ 6,437.59 crore between April 2022 and March 2025. During this period, the loan account numbers of STs stood at 9,625 with a sanctioned amount of ₹ 2,037.15 crore. Women entrepreneurs had 86,738 loan accounts with a sanctioned amount of ₹ 20,521.41 crore.
Scroll.in
12 hours ago
- Scroll.in
One in three candidates accepted offers under PM internship scheme: Centre
Only about 33% of the applicants have accepted the internships they were offered under the Prime Minister Internship Scheme since it was launched in October, the Union government told Parliament on Monday. The scheme was announced as part of the Union Budget 2024-'25 to provide internship opportunities to one crore youth in 500 top companies over five years. The Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs launched the pilot project of the scheme on October 3. Out of the 1.53 lakh internship offers made since then, 50,726 have been accepted, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply in Lok Sabha. Of the total, 8,700 candidates who were made offers in the first round of the pilot have joined their internships. The process of accepting offers made in the second round after January 9 is in progress, added Sitharaman. In the first round of the pilot, more than 1.27 lakh internship opportunities were posted and over 6.21 lakh applications were received from 1.81 lakh students. The finance minister said that companies had offered more than 82,000 internships to more than 60,000 candidates, out of which 28,141 candidates accepted. As part of the second round, more than 1.18 lakh internship opportunities had been posted as of July 17. Sitharaman said that the government had received more than 4.55 lakh applications from 2.14 lakh candidates. More than 71,000 internship offers were made and 22,584 were accepted. In total, over 2.45 lakh internship opportunities have been posted, with 10.76 lakh applications received from nearly 3.95 lakh applicants.
