Working with strategic partners, iFHP has developed its first Study Tour to India, giving senior leaders a first-hand look at one of the world’s fastest-moving healthcare markets and the lessons it holds for our members.
India offers a compelling model for building more affordable, scalable and inclusive health systems. Its ambitious approach to digital health, combined with the need to serve a vast and diverse population, has created new models of care with relevance far beyond the Indian market.
As Dr Penny Dash, Chair of NHS England, said in her London Biennial keynote: “India, I think, is absolutely unbelievable at the moment. My guess is that India will become the leading-edge provider of healthcare in the next 10 years.”
India was a recurring theme throughout the Biennial, both as a source of innovation and as a country reimagining care for a digitally native population. The Study Tour will bring participants together with leading insurers, providers, technology companies and healthcare leaders from across the Indian ecosystem.
- Sunday 4 April: Welcome drinks and dinner at The Lalit Hotel, Delhi, with the group and selected hosts. An opportunity to meet fellow delegates and set the context for the week ahead.
- Monday 5 April: Understanding the India context – Explore India’s healthcare and health insurance landscape: where it has come from, where it is heading and why it matters globally. Led by Dr Rana Mehta, Leader – Health, PwC India, followed by visits to the Niva Bupa office in Cyber City and the Bupa Capability Centre to understand how a leading insurer is leveraging scale, technology and operational excellence.
- Tuesday 6 April: The provider system in action – Visit leading hospitals and healthcare providers to examine innovative approaches to health financing, integrated and bundled care, specialised clinical centres, remote monitoring and delivering quality healthcare at scale, including for rural and underserved communities. These sessions will provide insight into how providers are partnering with insurers to improve affordability, access and outcomes. Evening at leisure.
- Wednesday 7 April: Technology Horizons – Explore how technology is reshaping healthcare and insurance through new insurance models, AI-native operating models, innovative distribution channels and solutions tailored to different population segments. Participants will gain practical insights into how AI and digital capabilities are transforming customer experience, workforce productivity and health system performance.
- Thursday 8 April: The pharmaceutical and value-based care ecosystem – Examine the Indian pharmaceutical market, value-based healthcare initiatives and evolving payment models. Discussions will focus on how incentives, innovation and partnerships are supporting more sustainable healthcare systems and what international insurers can learn from these approaches.
- Friday 9 April (morning): The future health ecosystem – We intend to invite NATHEALTH to lead the final session, sharing the vision for Viksit Bharat 2047—the Government of India’s mission to make India a developed nation by the 100th anniversary of its independence. The discussion will explore how government, providers and insurers are working together to create a more integrated, digitally enabled and sustainable health ecosystem, and the implications for health systems around the world.
Radical cost efficiency
Leading providers deliver high-quality care at dramatically lower costs through scale and process design.
Flexible, inclusive product design
Tiered pricing and cross-subsidization enable coverage across income levels, with the market moving beyond one-size-fits-all plans toward more adaptive, segmented offerings.
Digital ecosystems at national scale
Initiatives like National Health Authority and the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission show how interoperable digital systems can transform claims, underwriting, and patient access.
Unlocking mass markets through microinsurance
Indian initiatives demonstrate how simple, low-cost products can reach hundreds of millions, with growth in underserved, high-volume segments.
Strong provider–insurer integration
Cashless networks, fixed pricing, and close hospital partnerships improve efficiency and reduce fraud.
High-impact innovation
India excels at “doing more with less” through lean operations, task-shifting, and practical innovation with an AI native population and high adoption. Innovation is often operational—not just hi capex technological shifts.
Scaling across diverse populations
India’s system manages vast differences in income, geography, and health needs with segmentation and localised solutions outperforming uniform national models.