AI Firms Eye Growth as Unstructured Clinical Data Becomes New Healthcare Goldmine
India’s healthcare sector is creating a big new opportunity for Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies as large amounts of patient data remain unstructured, as per media reports.
Most patient information today is stored in formats like handwritten notes, PDFs, lab reports, medical images, and free-text documents. Since this data is not organised in standard databases, AI tools such as natural language processing and image recognition are needed to analyse it. Companies say this can help improve diagnosis, personalise treatments, and support medical research.
A new report by EY-Parthenon and OPPI says the use of AI, analytics, and automation is rapidly growing across India’s healthcare and pharma industry. AI is being used in drug discovery, predictive diagnostics, virtual clinical trials, and real-world data analysis, helping reduce costs and speed up development.
Several global pharma companies are also expanding their India operations. Bristol Myers Squibb has opened a USD 100 million innovation hub with 1,500 specialists. Amgen has launched a USD 200 million tech and innovation centre. Sanofi is investing EUR 400 million to almost double its Hyderabad workforce by 2026, and Novo Nordisk is increasing its Bengaluru team to 5,000 employees.
According to Bain & Co., India’s pharmaceutical market was valued at ₹4.7 lakh crore (USD 55 billion) in 2025 and is expected to grow to ₹10.3–11.1 lakh crore (USD 120–130 billion) by 2030. With India’s fast-growing economy, the government aims for the country to become a USD 30–35 trillion economy by 2047.
