At $2.5-3.1 billion, pharmaceutical outsourcing market (excluding contract manufacturing services) accounts for about 75% of the India’s medical process outsourcing (MPO) segment which is currently estimated at $3.3–4.2 billion, according to a recent Assocham-Ernst & Young joint study. While the payer outsourcing market constitutes $700-900 million of India’s MPO market, the provider market accounts for the remaining share of about $100-200 million.
The recent US regulation on Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) together with the proposed introduction of ICD-10 standards have given impetus to the Indian MPO market. Besides, domestic players are also gradually moving up the value chain in terms of service offerings while maintaining their cost competitiveness. All of these combined will give a boost to the MPO market, with payer BPO market likely to grow at about 10% year-on-year in the next three to four years globally, provider outsourcing at more than 30% during 2011–2016, and the Contract Research Organisations (CROs) market at 18%–20% in the coming years.