Britain’s largest private health insurer British United Provident Association (BUPA) is set to enter India to cash in on the booming healthcare services demand, driven by rapidly rising population and growing affluence.

The UK healthcare giant is said to have teamed up with Max New York Life for its foray into the country, and plans to plough some of the £1.44 billion rose from the sale of 25 of its UK hospitals last year, sources said.

BUPA is already present in 190 countries and has over eight million members in Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia. It recently opened an office in China. Last year the company earned revenues of £3.8 billion from insurance in the UK alone and £2.3 billion from international insurance. BUPA has bases in three continents and operates over 300 care homes spread across the United Kingdom. India is thought to be an attractive market for international medical insurance players, with the market growing at a steady 35% year-on-year.

Many firms are keen to expand footprint in the country, either through tie-ups with Indian players or through solo shows. With changes seen in affordability of healthcare, domestic players too have got more aggressive in tapping the huge pool of patients.
“Companies are realising that despite FDI limitations and concerns regarding management control, India offers tremendous opportunities and many are beginning to believe the India story,” says A Parekh of global financial services firm Ernst & Young.

Both BUPA and officials at Max New York Life refused to comment on the deal.

Sources said BUPA is also seeking to expand its profile in the UK by winning contracts under the commissioning of the national health services and by offering new services to British corporate customers, beyond standard employee medical insurance.

To this end, BUPA had teamed up with Mumbai-based Wockhardt Hospitals over five years ago. Wockhardt is on BUPA’s emergency international network of participating hospitals.

This means UK tourists with BUPA insurance have access to medical facilities in India through Wockhardt Hospitals.

“We are entitled to treat them on a cashless basis and we recover the cost from BUPA,” says Vishal Bali, chief executive officer at Wockhardt hospitals.

“Many global players want to participate in healthcare delivery space. And as that market evolves, it has a huge spin-off effect on medical insurance,” Bali said.

With less than 10% of the population covered by medical insurance, the Indian government has taken up the noble cause to provide the same to the country’s 300 million poor, most of whom work in the unorganized sector and are thus deprived of quality healthcare.