Consolidation Complete What Next for Multi-Speciality Hospitals?
India’s multi-specialty hospital sector has undergone significant consolidation, marked by large acquisitions and buyouts. This wave has transformed the scale, geographic reach, and operational models of hospital chains. The panel will explore emerging trends shaping the next phase of growth, innovation, and patient-centric care in this evolving landscape. How has consolidation impacted competitive dynamics and specialization strategies among multi-specialty hospital chains? What role will geographic expansion beyond metros play in addressing healthcare access gaps and market growth? What to look out for in post-consolidation innovation: adoption of technology, clinical governance, and value-based care models? Investor perspectives: What exit options, valuation trends, and capital strategies are emerging for large hospital networks?
Pharma Can Still Generate Alpha in India: Opportunities and Challenges
India’s pharmaceutical sector continues to evolve beyond its generics manufacturing legacy into a high-growth, innovation-driven industry. With strong government support, rising biosimilars and specialty drug markets, and digital transformation enabling R&D efficiencies, investors are evaluating new pathways to alpha. This panel explores how investors can unlock value in India’s pharma industry amid regulatory shifts, global quality standards, and emerging scientific frontiers. What are the emerging business models: from scale-based generics to innovation-centered R&D investment? What are the realistic return expectations and risk factors for private equity in Indian pharma? In a transforming Indian pharma landscape, can investors still find differentiated alpha, and what strategies will be critical in this evolving environment?
Diagnostics: Driving Affordability & Preventive Healthcare
India’s diagnostics sector is experiencing rapid expansion driven by rising healthcare awareness, government health initiatives, and technological innovation. Investors are examining opportunities ranging from lab chains, point-of-care testing, molecular diagnostics, to AI-enabled imaging solutions. This panel will discuss growth dynamics, operational challenges, and the evolving regulatory landscape shaping the future of diagnostics in India. What are the trends around consolidation versus fragmentation in lab chains and diagnostic service providers? What is the impact of technology: AI, automation, and tele-diagnostics enhancing accuracy and accessibility for medical testing? How can investors best capitalize on the diagnostics sector’s growth while addressing operational and regulatory complexities?
Single Specialty Healthcare: Unlocking Niche Value & Growth
Single specialty hospitals and clinics focusing on areas such as fertility, eye care, dental among others are expanding rapidly across India. But some domains are still an open field for investors. How are investors looking at these focused models and do they deliver superior clinical outcomes, offer operational efficiency, and patient loyalty, creating attractive risk-adjusted returns amid increasing healthcare demand and specialization? How do investment theses for single specialty healthcare differ from multispecialty hospital platforms? What are the challenges and opportunities in scaling single specialty healthcare models across urban and tier-2-3 markets? What are the unique regulatory, talent, and infrastructure considerations for specialty healthcare investments?
Medtech & Medical Equipment: Bringing Scale
India’s medtech sector is witnessing dynamic growth, powered by rising healthcare infrastructure demand, supportive policy frameworks, and innovation in device manufacturing and digital health solutions. Investors are evaluating how to capitalize on opportunities in advanced diagnostics, point-of-care devices, AI-enabled equipment, and domestic manufacturing to address both domestic needs and global supply chain shifts. But there are just a handful of companies that have broken out in terms of scale. What is stopping the sector to go the same way as healthcare services and pharma where large players have emerged over time?
Healthcare Real Estate: Rise of Specialized Medical Infrastructure
India’s demographic shift towards an ageing population is creating significant demand for specialized healthcare infrastructure and senior living communities. At the same time investors have also looked at life sciences focused real estate projects to create an integrated ecosystem and some have also eyed healthcare linked property management firms. The evolution of this asset class offers unique challenges and growth potential amid evolving regulatory, cultural, and operational landscapes. How are investors viewing healthcare real estate as a defensive yet growth-oriented asset class in India? What are the opportunities and bottlenecks in developing senior living projects that combine healthcare, lifestyle, and medical services? How to balance operational complexities with real estate portfolio strategies in healthcare assets? How can healthcare real estate and senior living solutions align investor returns with India’s pressing demographic and healthcare infrastructure needs?
Wellness: Investment Horizons in an Evolving Lifestyle & Preventive Healthcare Market
The wellness sector in India is expanding rapidly, driven by rising consumer health awareness, digital health penetration, and a growing demand for holistic and preventive care solutions. Investors are exploring diverse opportunities spanning fitness, mental health, nutrition, ayurveda, and integrative wellness services, both in urban and emerging markets. How are firms integrating traditional wellness practices like Ayurveda and Yoga with modern preventive healthcare to create fresh scalable opportunities? How is the consumer segmentation and evolving demand patterns in metros, tier-2, and rural India? How can regulatory environment, standardization, and quality assurance boost the wellness industry? Can wellness investment in India move beyond lifestyle to become a cornerstone of preventive healthcare and sustainable growth?
Health Insurance & Financing: Unlocking Capital for Accessible & Affordable Care
With a rapidly growing middle class, regulatory reforms, and increasing health awareness, India’s health insurance sector is primed for expansion and innovation. Investors are evaluating opportunities in digital distribution, insurtech startups, product bundling, and new risk models to drive penetration, affordability, and financial inclusion. What are the investment opportunities across traditional insurers, insuretech, and embedded insurance platforms? How are regulatory changes and government initiatives shaping investor appetite and product design? How to leverage technology for underwriting, claims management, and expanding reach into underpenetrated markets? What partnership models—with hospitals, corporates, and digital health platforms—are unlocking new pools of insured customers? Is India’s health insurance sector ready to drive universal coverage, and what role can investors play in catalyzing the next wave of growth?
Data-Driven Healthcare: AI, Analytics, and Digital Platforms as Investment Catalysts
India’s healthcare ecosystem is at the cusp of a digital revolution, where AI-powered diagnostics, predictive analytics, and scalable digital health platforms are fundamentally reshaping care delivery, operational efficiency, and patient outcomes. How are AI and analytics driving innovation in diagnostics, patient monitoring, and clinical decision support in India? What are the investment implications of scaling digital health platforms focused on telemedicine, remote monitoring, and health records? How are firms addressing data privacy, interoperability, and regulatory challenges? What is the role of AI-enabled operational efficiencies in hospitals and healthcare delivery networks as investment value drivers?
Venture Capital in Indian Healthcare: Trends, Challenges, and Future Directions
India’s healthcare sector has witnessed flows of venture capital funding driven by innovation in healthtech, diagnostics, digital therapeutics, and specialty care startups. This session explores the evolving investment landscape, the regulatory and operational challenges, and how venture capital is shaping the future of healthcare delivery and outcomes in India. What are the prominent trends in healthcare venture capital investments in India, including sector focus and deal dynamics? What are the challenges faced by investors and startups such as regulatory hurdles, scaling issues, and talent acquisition? What is the exit landscape: IPOs, acquisitions, and alternative exit routes for healthcare startups in India?
Ishaan brings with him nearly 2 decades of experience across healthcare where he has established organizations from the ground up and scaled them into profitable business models. In his last stint he was associated with Neuberg Diagnostics, one of India's leading diagnostic service providers, with its presence across India, UAE, South Africa and USA. His earlier tenure was with Redcliffe Labs, where he focused on key strategic areas. He played a vital role in setting up specialized testing labs and expansion of regional labs and corporate businesses, which included pathology and radiology. Prior to joining Redcliffe Labs, he was working with Lifecell International as its Chief Executive Officer where he made significant contributions to scale up the business.
Some of his notable achievements across his professional career include launching the community cord blood banking model, which was recognized and endorsed by all medical bodies, establishing the diagnostics business in Lifecell in 2013 and augmenting it to be the top mother and child diagnostic player in the country. He upscaled the business to 6 regional labs pan India and expanded from 10 tests to a 1000 test portfolio, all this while developing & launching industry-first programmes and technological solutions namely Reflex NIPT markers, QFPCR, rapid exomes, and 'Babyshield' newborn screening program. He led 4 lab acquisitions across Chennai, Pune, and Kolkata to support inorganic growth and secured 2 rounds of funding – the most recent being the USD 30 million round from Orbimed in 2021.
He holds a dual Master’s degree in Biotechnology and Enterprise from the University of Manchester. Ishaan associates himself with social health causes, enjoys traveling and has a soft spot for animals. He has also launched multiple social campaigns – the most recent being 'Hope is Life' which received many awards and accolades.
On the personal front, Ishaan is married to Ruhi who holds an MBA in Finance and is currently pursuing Investing and Trading in the stock market. She is a food enthusiast and practices meditation. They have a 5 year old son Ruhaan, who is fond of solving maths puzzles and playing chess.
Karthik Narayanaswamy joined Novo Holdings in January 2025 as Partner and Head of India, bringing over 20 years of experience in private equity investing, strategy consulting, and operations.
Before joining Novo Holdings, Karthik was the Co-founder and Partner at SeaLink Capital Partners, a mid-market private equity firm focused on India, where he led the firm’s healthcare investments. Prior to that, he served as a Principal at KKR Capstone, where he oversaw due diligence and drove operational improvements across KKR's investments in India.
Karthik’s earlier career includes his time at Bain & Company, where he was a founding member of the India office. During his tenure, he specialized in private equity due diligence and performance improvement. He also gained investment experience at Goldman Sachs Investment Partners and began his career at Capital One Financial in Richmond, Virginia.
Karthik holds a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.
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