Bengaluru-based workwear major Dickies India has said that the company is entering health care market and it has already tied up with a couple of major health care services recently. “Primarily Dickies India will be looking at building a B2B customer base through which we will build up a distribution and sales agent network across India. We have entered the health care market and have tied up with couple of major health care services in south India and mere future expansion across pan India," said Ravi Karthikeya, Chief Executive Officer & Director, Dickies India on Saturday.
The company said that it would be building a distribution channel of sales in the coming year. “This market is growing at a CAGR of 15 per cent, it is expected to touch Rs 6,300 crore by 2020,” Karthikeya said. The country's healthcare sector, which was estimated at $40 billion in 2010, is expected to reach $280 billion by 2020. The healthcare industry is defined as hospitals, medical infrastructure, medical devices, medical equipment, medical uniforms and foot wear, health insurance etc.
The biotechnology sector alone has around 340 companies which employ more than 25,000 technologists currently. "The health care industries are likely to grow at a rate of around 18 per cent annually and this growth will be further boosted by the opportunity presented by $300 billion worth of drugs set to go off-patent in next five years," Karthikeya said, adding that such massive growth in the healthcare industry is expected to create about 21 lakh jobs by the year 2020.
As per a health industry study, in the hospital sector alone, about 1.8 million beds are required by the end of 2025. Additionally, 1.54 million doctors and 2.4 million nurses are required to meet the growing demand in hospitals.The key industries for workwear in India have traditionally been healthcare, hospitality and manufacturing and mining.
However, lately there has been an increase in use of uniforms in the organised retail, logistics, facility management, security and other sectors. Earlier, garment exporter ID Overseas had signed an exclusive licensing agreement with the US workwear brand Williamson-Dickie to tap the growing basic workwear market in the country.