India's Low-cost Health Care and Research Talent  Draw Global Insurers and Drug Makers

India's health care industry ails from severe under-penetration among its population, especially in rural areas. But according to an article in India Knowledge at Wharton, the low penetration levels are a glass half full for global pharmaceutical companies. Many of them have steadily increased their investments in the country, drawn by India's talent base and R&D capabilities for drug development, and its strengths in alternative medicine, like Ayurveda (India's traditional system of holistic medicine). Insurance providers, meanwhile, like the country's low cost of health care, which has made it a destination for so-called "medical tourists" from developed countries.