New Delhi, Delhi, India., June 27, 2014 -- Came 2011-12 and the release of several study report on Wellness Industry. The most specific ones being from the Price Waterhouse Coopers and FICCI. Sensing the boom in the Asian bourses mainly attributed to ‘Rise of the Dragon”, the market sentiments were experiencing a high tide and so were the predictions of wellness industry to be worth 490 billion or so and expectations for this figure to increase in the then near future. This was definitely supported by the industry having witnessed tremendous growth in the past few years and the demand for wellness services only bound to increase.

The reasons for this high were and are many. Mostly, the primary consumers of such services have been young working professionals roughly belonging to the age bracket of 25-35 years. This mainly attributed to their greater financial independence. Further, with disposable incomes, they start taking their own call to determine their spending priorities in line with the westernization of the society.

Interestingly, there are also indications that the average age of consumers using these services has started decreasing. There is an increasing pressure on teenagers and those in their 20’s to look good, while those in their 30’s and 40’s to not only look good but young too. The media too feeds in such images of ‘perfect bodies’ and ‘beautiful faces’.

With a herd mentality that we Indians are famous for, there started a virtual stampede in the Wellness Industry. From clinics to spas to weight loss & slimming centres to non-invasive surgery procedures, and beauty treatments, an entire gamut of services started mushrooming more predominantly in the metros but no less in cities and towns across India.

As was very natural, this boom, like the IT boom of the late 1990 and early 2000 brought in side effects that became impediments in its own growth. The most important and key factor being the availability of trained personnel to fuel this growth. In the absence of the latter, cropped up issues like effective monitoring of the industry and associated quality control. Also this, compounded by the governments policy/decision Paralysis of the 2013’s ensured that the industry entered the brief consolidation phase before taking a leap forward. Beginning 2014, many new non-core players who had jumped in ‘to make hay while the sun shines” started shutting shop. Typical amongst these being major players like the Health and Glow (H&G) chain of Clinics claimed to be based out of Calcutta. The entire chain got wiped out of New Delhi in a matter of days after having sustained operations for good about 2 to 3 years. Next in line and the most recent one being the Perfect Wellness Pvt. Ltd. An ambitious project but without core expertise. The latter is claimed to be funded from the Travel Industry with nil expertise in the core business, melted away from NCR Delhi, as quickly as it came in. Several others from the field have dwindling operations.

On the contrary there are some others who prefer believing in professionalism and ethical business practices. These are the ones that actually worked on strengthening their foundations and thus became stronger by the day. An example of a company that steered well, being the Health Sanctuary chain of clinics that has visibly expanded its operations and entered new markets in states like Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Lending credence to the wellness industry’s journey over the past several years, Mr. R H Choudhary, Director, Health Sanctuary says, “Late 2012 was a period when the attrition rates soared. However, in the last 1.5 to 2 years, with the closure of “Fly by Night” kind of companies in the wellness sector, the situation has improved drastically. Now is the time for Health Sanctuary to take the big leap into Expansion and that’s already happening”

However despite all constraints, the wellness industry is bound to grow albeit not at a rapid pace but certainly with a modest acceleration. To add to this will be a charged FDI interest in the economy of the country with a very strong and stable government at the centre. It has been an interesting journey so far and this is what makes the Health & Wellness industry a sector to watch for in times to come.

Contact:
Tapas Mahajan
Health Sanctuary
C 2 / 1011, PALAM VIHAR
New Delhi, Delhi, India
886-041-8152
[email protected]
http://www.hs-inc.com