00:00From the budget what we expect is, first of all lowering of custom duties.
00:06The median range of custom duties is 7.5 to 10 percent, however another ad valorem tax
00:15of 5 percent and an educational cess of 1 percent takes this to 13 to 16 percent.
00:24This is quite high keeping in mind that 70 to 80 percent of the products which are used
00:31in India are imported.
00:34The cost finally is borne by the patient.
00:37The second aspect to look into is the neighboring custom duty regimes.
00:45In the neighborhood like in countries like Sri Lanka and Nepal, the custom duties are
00:51only about 5 percent or less.
00:55This difference creates the opportunity for illicit smuggling of products which are high
01:03value but low bulk.
01:06And this leads to losses in exchequer for the government as well as more importantly
01:13the patient is beset with products which do not have legal or service guarantees.
01:19On the other side of demand generation, we expect a deeper dive into health insurance.
01:28Home care which comes at a fraction of cost of hospital care and also coverage of home
01:36care will ensure that the scarcity of beds in India will be taken care of.
01:44Elder care because the very high level of old age poverty setting in because of health
01:50care expenses and the premiums also need to be watched.
01:56Year after year the premiums on health care insurance are rising, unexplainable and un-understandably.
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