Deeptech is very much alive in India: healthcare just getting started
To add to Aadit's comments on deeptech, it is consumer demand and immediate needs that need to be fulfilled first. Almost every govt in India has always prioritised health (thankfully). And the playbook is pretty simple : Copy/innovate and improve.
First we started with whitelabeling and imports. Learnt the product, and how to sell since 1900s. Then we copied, innovated and improved on the work of others much like China and everyone else.
Over the last 30 years or so we've dominated market share in drug manufacturing and vaccines, just as an example.
(Fun fact: Established in Kolkata, West Bengal in 1901, Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd is India's first government owned-pharmaceutical-manufacturer)
The next step is electronics, precision instruments and high end research. The phase we have just entered.
The importers we worked with became manufacturers and started making in India over the last 20-30 years. Has been happening slowly since the 50s. Some of the Indian companies we work with have an annual turnover of 50-60Cr, going upto 100s and 1000+ crores too. They employ millions of people across India and globally.
My small company has also started making small products recently, little bits of hardware mostly made in India. I have plenty of product ideas i want to develop further for the medical industry, working with such companies to sell products as well as educated professionals about the uses and latest advancements in tech.
Few weeks ago I met a scientist working on high end research on drug resistant bacteria. A professor I know in a tier 2 city is overseeing a project that could disrupt ALL of global pharma industry through drug delivery innovation (Can't share too many details. Patents pending).
Another person i know makes air filters currently being used by ISRO. Chinese companies have started sourcing from him because they can't match his quality and price.
Biocon is a billion dollar Indian company working on innovative drug manufacturing. Many more such giants thrive in India today. Also, India ranks 6th in the world in healthcare patents filed (Biocon has a bunch of patents as well, Nikhil Kamath podcast with Kiran is a great intro).
Tl; dr - The deeptech revolution (in healthcare at least) is alive and well, brewing in the background quietly. Most people just don't seem to know it :)
To those interested in deeptech, I'd highly suggest looking at healthcare industry in depth. It's vast, developing fast, and saves lives as a nice bonus ❣️
Talking product sense with Ridhi
9 min AI interview5 questions
Beautiful point And it's very true - our advancements in health are to be proud of
We need to replicate in new sectors
Because healthcare is a demanding sector, just like food bussiness and FMCG because they are like necessities. But other sectors we have to make them modular, faster and cheaper and innovative without any wastage
I'm currently working for AI + healthcare, cardiology mainly, and I think there are many areas that are unexplored.
In India we don't store patients'data. That can be a big thing if someone initiates this.
What’s your opinion on this? Why don’t we have EMRs in India? Why isn’t anyone building this?
One of the reasons is computers, now we can start. But computers were pretty new to everyone. Computer literacy was other thing.
One more is in India the healthcare model is not insurance based.
I think deep tech has much wider impact on the diagnostics and testing, instead of delivery or developing a drug.
Delivery doesn't mean doorstep delivery bro, it means how the drug reaches the intended area/organ.
All of these things are deeptech and have other implications down the line as well.
Good 😇
I have seen pharma and other manufacturing plants in india . Indian pharma is cut above the rest . I rate dilip sanghvi higher than adani , ambanis and zomatos of india
Had govt. given support to them like adani , they would have created a pfizer out of india
Agreed, India has really cracked Pharma well. Govt support is still better in healthcare compared to other domains though. I seriously think R&D spend should increase across all domains.
You know the code y'all gotta live by now!