Mr. Rahul Kumar, Co-Founder- Vital– An Insurtech Platform
Health insurance industry trend in 2021:
2021 has acted as a catalyst for the health insurance industry, adding new perspectives to the sector and increasing the demand amongst consumers. An increased fusion with technology has also led to the transformation of traditional health insurance services.
Responding to the growing demand from people, many private health insurance players have digitized their operations while a whole set of new-age insuretech players have also popped onto the scene. This has enabled the industry to reach a larger customer base and also drastically reduce the response and turnaround time for all the services-related processes, including claims.
There has been a greater focus on customer convenience, thanks to all the physical distancing norms and increased digital consumption on the part of the customers. We have also witnessed an increased awareness and ask for personalized benefits and services, creating the need for a product like ours which addresses every individual’s health and financial needs differently. The importance of tracking a user’s health, both from a business as well as a consumer point of view, has exponentially grown as well to help drive these value-added services.
Expectations from 2022
Health profiling and digitization have been two revolutionary changes in the insurance industry. Technological advancements are only going to propel this further in 2022. Insurance companies are using newer technology like data science, artificial intelligence to fast track their services and offer customized products for the consumer. Consumers are now aware of the ever-growing medical inflation and are on the lookout for affordable healthcare but have no desire to compromise quality or coverage.
Higher and comprehensive health coverage, both hospitalization and otherwise, is going to start taking the spotlight again – thanks to the advent of the new Omicron variant and a third wave apparently looming on the horizon. We are expecting the demand for health insurance to go up amongst both individuals and corporates. Insurance companies have already started focusing on smaller startups and SMEs to offer affordable group health covers, which has incidentally become a key part of the employee experience. Personalization and wellness are already starting to take a centre stage here as well.
On the consumer side, millennials and Gen Z are now aware of the reality of healthcare expenses which would further drive up the demand for health insurance. Add to that the fact that they are also aware of their personal healthcare needs, they will be on the lookout for personalized and holistic health covers like ours which keeps them prepared for both hospitalization and regular healthcare expenses.
Ms. Neha Bagaria, Founder & CEO, JobsForHer
2021 was a recovery period for working women.
Those who were forced to quit their jobs due to the pandemic took charge and made efforts to get back to the workforce by upskilling and keeping up-to-date with current technologies. JobsForHer recorded a three-fold increase in the number of job postings in 2021 from 2020.
Work from home roles has had a positive impact on the working women graph. JobsForHer recorded a more than 50% rise in the number of job postings for wfh roles. WFH also opened up vast opportunities for women from tier 2 and tier 3 cities to pursue their careers from their hometowns.
The IT industry really outshined this year and got serious about its diversity and inclusion goals. Almost 50% of the job postings on the JobsForHer platform were from the IT industry. And at the same time, women in tech users also went up by 21% in 2021.
With an aim to bring more women into tech, every month, 101 women receive 100% scholarships through the HerTech Academy, an initiative sponsored by JobsForHer Foundation.
According to a JobsForHer report, 48% of Indian companies formed special initiatives to bring women back into the workforce. Amazon AWS, Maersk, Airbus, Myntra, Google, GSK, Morgan Stanley, Thoughtworks Vapasi, TVS Motor are a few of the global companies that partnered with JobsForHer in 2021 with their returnee initiatives to encourage and accelerate women’s careers back on track with advanced tech jobs.
With work from home becoming a norm, we’re looking forward to more and more women from across the country updating their resumes and getting the opportunities to keep up with the changing trends in organisations.
Dr. Surendra K Chikara. Founder & CEO, Bione
The future outlook for D2C genetic tests and microbiome tests is certainly very bright. The human microbiome market is projected to reach USD 1,598 million by 2028 from USD 894 million in 2025, at a CAGR of 21.3% from 2025 to 2028. The world’s consumer genetic testing market was worth USD 70m in 2015 and is expected to rise to $340m (£261m) by 2022. It’s expanded beyond the ancestry sector and into beauty, health and fitness. In the Indian market, awareness is still quite minimal and this needs to be ramped up. But there is a lot of coverage now about the close connection between gut health and overall health and how DNA testing can help recognize the risk of chronic disease.
Rahul Dugar – Co-Founder, Director, Arte’Venue
With the real estate sector returning to its normal state, the home décor and interior décor industry is also gaining a major push. As people buy new homes post the pandemic, they have a renewed interest in decorating their living spaces in a unique way and do not want to compromise on the quality.
According to a report published by researchandmarkets.com, The global market for online home decor is estimated at $98.4 billion in 2020 amid COVID-19 and is projected to a revised rise of $348.3 billion by 2027.
With offline offices resuming and many people relocating to a new city for work, demand for the home décor segment will further grow as people buy more homes. Also, hybrid work culture will continue to stay for some time which will again increase interest among people for home decors like lamps, wall art, artwork, lighting, furniture etc. To create a vibrant workspace for the employee’s many organizations are also investing in artefacts related to interior décor. It is expected that there will be a surge in demand from corporates as well as most of them are resuming offline operations from January or February in 2022.
