Debottam Datta

India's teleconsultation market is rapidly expanding, currently valued at approximately USD 3.7 billion in 2025 and projected to reach USD 12-20 billion by 2031-34, growing at a CAGR of 20-23%. B2B doctor-centric SaaS platforms are leading this growth in healthcare software, expected to rise from USD 897 million in 2024 to USD 3 billion by 2030. This model offers more resilient revenue compared to the volatile B2C models, making it ideal for over 1.3 million practitioners in India. Key Market Insights: - Total Addressable Market (TAM): USD 4.5 billion in 2026 - B2B Serviceable Available Market (SAM): USD 1.5-2.5 billion, with a 1-3% capture yielding USD 15-75 million Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) through partnerships. B2B vs B2C: - B2B models benefit from low churn and high lifetime value (LTV) through SaaS subscriptions, despite longer cycles and sticky integration. - B2C models face challenges post-COVID with high customer acquisition costs (CAC) of approximately ₹3,000 per patient. Competitors in the space include Practo (holding a 26% market share and profitable by FY25), Apollo 247, and Tata 1mg, with differentiation achieved through no-app consultations and compliance with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM). Growth levers include: - Integration with ABDM and e-pharma, presenting a USD 12 billion opportunity by 2030. - Hybrid B2B-to-B2C models leveraging digital prescriptions to delivery. - Offline clinics capitalizing on the surge in quick commerce pharmacy. The strategic approach should focus on building B2B moats first, followed by scaling hybrid models. Insights are validated through IMARC and Mordor reports. Comment, Follow and DM for the full report. #HealthTech #MedTech #DigitalHealth #HealthcareInnovation #TelemedicineIndia #HealthTechIndia #MedTechIndia #DigitalTransformation #SaaS #HealthTechStartups #IndiaHealthTech #Telehealth #HealthInnovation

12

36+ Startups. 22 Million+ Users Impacted. Meet the "IT Giant" that became India’s secret Product Factory The answer is "Cognizant." Let us look at how: 👇🏻 For decades, the narrative was that Indian IT services companies only produced "delivery" talent. But the "Cognizant Mafia" has shattered that glass ceiling. By combining the operational rigor of managed services with a high-stakes appetite for product-led growth, these founders have built the infrastructure of India’s 2026 digital economy. Here are the alumni of the "Cognizant Mafia" who redefined their industries: 1) Krish Subramanian - Former Technology Specialist at Cognizant Co-Founder – Chargebee He took the complexity of global billing and turned it into a $3.5B+ SaaS powerhouse. Chargebee now manages revenue for over 20,000+ high-growth businesses globally. Krish proved that you can build "Category Kings" from Chennai by treating recurring revenue as a science, not a line item 💳 2) Amit Agarwal - Former Analyst at Cognizant Co-Founder - NoBroker Tackled the "unsolvable" broker nexus. By leveraging tech to eliminate middlemen, NoBroker has saved Indian customers over ₹15,000 Cr in brokerage fees to date. With 7 million+ verified customers, they've turned real estate from a "relationship" business into a "data" business 🏠 3) Chaitanya Ramalingegowda - Former Senior Consultant at Cognizant Co-Founder - Wakefit Utilising consulting rigor to disrupt sleep. As of 2026, Wakefit has moved from a "mattress startup" to a home solutions giant, clocking a 9-month revenue of ₹1,145 Cr and serving 2 million+ homes. They didn't just sell mattresses; they sold an omnichannel ecosystem 🛏️ 4) Madhusudanan R – Former Associate at Cognizant Co-Founder - M2P Fintech The "Infrastructure" play. M2P acts as the "API-first" plumbing for banks. By processing billions in transaction volume monthly, they enable legacy institutions to launch digital products in weeks, not years. They are the silent engine behind 600+ fintech partnerships 🛠️ 5) Pranav Goel - Former Associate at Cognizant Co-Founder - Porter He brought the "Uber-model" to intra-city logistics. Porter has now scaled to over 50M+ app downloads and a fleet of 500,000+ driver-partners. By solving for the "Last-Mile," they’ve reduced logistics costs for SMEs by nearly 25% through pure routing efficiency 🚛 6) Swathi Kulkarni - Former Strategic Leader at Cognizant Co-Founder - Elda Health Representing the new wave of FemTech. Swathi is shifting from high-scale IT to high-empathy DeepTech. Elda Health is now leading the charge in menopausal wellness, a market projected to reach $12.8B by 2030, proving that "IT training" is the ultimate foundation for health-tech precision 🩺 ➡️ The Insight: The "Cognizant Effect" is about Transitioning from Services to Systems. These founders didn't just learn how to write code; they learned how to manage massive scale (100k+ employees) and complex client requirements.

84

6 Comments

The outcome era might be the wave that propels software adoption in India For years, software vendors have struggled to crack the Indian enterprise market. Despite being a global IT services powerhouse, the country has historically shown reluctance toward subscription-based software. The common refrain is Indian buyers don’t pay for subscription software. They are seen as value-driven, focused on cost minimization than on increasing productivity or reducing headcount. Seat-based or feature-based pricing models rarely resonated. Instead, enterprises gravitated toward custom IT solutions built to their specifications, with one-time payments and long-lasting utility. This reluctance isn’t without context. Indian companies began their software journey with rigid and inflexible ERP systems. These platforms were expensive to implement and offered little flexibility. Beyond the software cost, implementation cost 2-3 times the license value. In the process they developed expectations for high-touch, personalized support. The emergence of AI-powered software presents a fundamentally different value proposition. This new class of AI-native software products is built not around access or licenses, but around outcomes and tasks. The model aligns remarkably well with the buyer psychology and feels intuitive. It’s akin to hiring an extra set of hands to get the job done. These outcome-based models also address the fundamental objection that "software isn't doing the heavy lifting." India has a history of bypassing technological stages. We skipped personal computers in a large part and went straight to mobile. We bypassed credit card and went straight to UPI. A similar pattern may emerge in enterprise software, where companies bypass the traditional SaaS era and move to outcome-focused AI tools. Of course, this transition is not without challenges. Outcome-based pricing requires robust tracking, attribution, and trust in AI capabilities. Many buyers still prefer a known vendor with predictable behavior, even if the value delivery is ambiguous. Procurement and compliance teams are often structured to approve capex-heavy software buys rather than dynamic opex-based models. India may never fully embrace SaaS in the same way Western markets have. But it may not need to. The rise of companies with AI capabilities and outcome-based pricing models creates a unique opportunity to overcome India's traditional resistance to software adoption. By shifting from "paying for software" to "paying for results," AI companies can address the fundamental objections that have limited SaaS growth in the Indian market. The next wave of adoption may not be about getting Indians to buy software, but about building software that Indians want to buy.

10

A few days back, in a conversation with Shereen Bhan for CNBC-TV18's Voices from the Valley, India's four important tech pillars surfaced on how: 1) Client-centric execution overcame initial doubts, securing sustained revenue streams. 2) Employment expansion drove economic multipliers, complemented by a STEM education pipeline 3) Quality at scale; precision and human intelligence driving responsible AI outcomes and 4) AI's broadening societal reach now extends this foundation, evident in diverse, high-skill teams. https://lnkd.in/gs6AXhuZ #IT #IndiaTech #Stem

44

ExecutiveRoundtable.org, Chairman’s Highlights! We catch up with Namita Jindal, Chief Information Officer at CentralSquare Technologies, a leader in public sector software solutions. Namita has been instrumental in driving innovation and operational excellence at CentralSquare, leveraging her extensive experience in business strategy and technology. Here, she shares her insights on the business climate for the rest of 2025 and the key factors influencing the industry. Namita: "At CentralSquare, we are deeply committed to enhancing the digital presence and operational efficiency of public sector agencies. Our mission-critical software solutions, ranging from Computer-aided Dispatch and Next-Generation 911 to Finance, Asset Management, and Permitting, are designed to help public agencies and their communities flourish in new ways The public sector is increasingly recognizing the value of digital transformation, and we are well-positioned to support this shift with our comprehensive suite of solutions. What excites me the most is the potential for innovation in areas such as artificial intelligence and data analytics. Our Generative AI initiatives are already showing promising results in improving our customer experience while we continue to innovate. We are investing heavily in cybersecurity and compliance to address the unique challenges of the public sector, including privacy concerns related to GAI. Ensuring that we have the right talent and resources to drive this innovation is essential. The shifting landscape of talent and staffing, especially with the rise of hybrid work, requires us to be agile and adaptive. Artificial intelligence versus human intelligence is another area of interest. While AI can significantly enhance our capabilities, it is crucial to strike a balance and ensure that human expertise remains at the core of our operations. We are committed to fostering a collaborative environment where AI and human intelligence complement each other to deliver the best outcomes for our customers. At CentralSquare, we believe in giving back to the community. Our social responsibility initiatives include volunteerism and charitable donations, and we strive to create a diverse and inclusive workplace. Personally, I am passionate about driving transformation and innovation, and I am proud to be part of a company that is making a real difference in the public sector." Namita's leadership and vision continue to drive CentralSquare's success, making it a pivotal player in the public sector software industry. Her dedication to innovation, operational excellence, and community engagement sets a high standard for the industry.

120

6 Comments

New H-1B visa rules will change how Indian IT firms operate across the globe. Adding costs and tightening policies have made sending talent to America more expensive and selective. As companies shift away from traditional models reliant on on-site resources in America, Indian IT companies are responding by enhancing their offshore/nearshore delivery models. To utilize India's abundant talent pool to manage complex global delivery remotely, utilizing a variety of resources, while relying less on labor-intensive processes through automation and AI initiatives. This will allow teams to function long-term without relying solely on visa-reliant talent. At the same time, companies are investing in local talent in the U.S. to maintain vital client-facing roles and minimize disruptions in continuity. By establishing a sustainable "onshore" workforce, companies are reducing exposure to restricted access for foreign talent and maintaining important client-facing roles to provide successful delivery of services. These changes, in turn, are driving a strategic shift to product-led growth domestically in India, which will lead to long-term profitability. Leveraging innovation and enhancing systems and domestic platforms, IT firms can translate mobility hurdles into economic challenges for product growth. The industry is transforming from a pure services model to a hybrid model beginning with offshoring cost efficiencies and onshore presence with local innovation. This also gives India a chance to build a "brain gain" ecosystem whereby more and more individuals of Indian origin are not only staying in India but actually coming back home from the US or elsewhere, thus building India's talent pool. This will ultimately serve to ensure that India becomes a globally recognized center of technology and innovation, while simultaneously reducing the overreliance on foreign markets to attract talent back to India. Although there are potential short-term obstacles to overcome with the new H1B rules, they also provoke Indian IT firms to innovate, adapt, and rethink how best to strategize on talent. Raising nearshore capabilities means a firm can adopt a product-led growth approach, which not only mitigates some of the anticipated risk or uncertainty but also positions the Indian technology sector to evolve in an interesting way as a sustainable hub of global leadership and access to market for its next growth phase. #H1BVisaChanges #IndianITFirms #GlobalTechShift #OffshoreDeliveryModels #FutureOfIT

17

Wednesday Wisdom from RV’s desk 1. India Inc. is carrying a silent burden: the middle layer of managers, largely in the 40+ age bracket, who have been in the same role for over a decade. 2. While the world moves with disruptive technologies and market shifts, many in this segment remain rooted in the comfort zones of yesterday. 3. This is not about loyalty or tenure. It is about stagnation. A sizeable chunk of this workforce has not scaled beyond their current roles. The result is a “fat in the middle”—a layer that slows organizational agility and nullifies productivity norms. 4. The paradox is real: what is measured often isn’t measurable, and what isn’t measurable rarely gets reviewed. Efficiency metrics become a moving target, and enterprises chase dashboards while value creation quietly slips away. 5. This inertia is not invisible. Across industries, middle management is being questioned. The shift towards flatter organizations, automation, and AI-driven decision making has already begun eroding this comfort zone. What once was considered indispensable is now being called into review. 6. For individuals in this bracket, the challenge is sharper. The thought of an alternative career path seems Herculean. Reskilling, entrepreneurship, or even lateral transitions look intimidating. Yet the reality is unavoidable—standing still in a world that moves fast is not stability; it is decline. 7. The pressing question: Should this mass continue to move directionless under the garb of “strategy,” or should it reinvent itself with relevance as the compass? 8. Relevance demands deliberate action: • Re-skill continuously: AI, digital, cloud, sustainability—choose one, but achieve mastery. • Adopt process discipline: move from executing tasks to owning outcomes. • Seek lateral enrichment: explore new industries, not just vertical promotions. • Build entrepreneurial muscles: embrace intrapreneurship or startups to remain nimble. • Measure what matters: shift from vanity KPIs to impact-driven metrics. 9. India’s demographic dividend cannot afford a demographic drag. When the middle layer becomes stagnant, the pyramid weakens from within. For the individual, tenure without reinvention becomes a career trap. For the enterprise, it becomes a barrier to agility. 10. The world is unforgiving to complacency. The real test is not how long you’ve stayed in a role, but how much you have evolved within it. 11. The final question remains: Will you be among those who adapted—or among those quietly left behind? #Leadership #WednesdayWisdom #FutureOfWork #Reskilling #IndiaInc #Management #Transformation #CareerGrowth #Productivity #Adaptability #MiddleManagement #Relevance #OrganizationalAgility #BusinessStrategy #Efficiency #WorkforceTransformation #LearningAndDevelopment #Upskilling #CareerShift #Entrepreneurship #RV

8

2 Comments

🚀 How Indians Will Navigate the Changing IT Business Landscape in 2025 The global IT market is in flux. With U.S. policy shifts, tighter visa norms, trade tensions, and rapid AI disruption, Indian IT professionals and companies face a critical turning point. The Challenges: 🔹 Uncertainty in the U.S. market – tariff risks, tighter H-1B rules, and cautious client spending. 🔹 Rising price pressure as global clients push for cost cuts. 🔹 Market volatility is affecting IT stock performance and investor confidence. The Response: ✅ Market Diversification – Expanding into Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and domestic government projects. ✅ AI & Automation – Leveraging technology to reduce delivery costs and promote product innovation. ✅ Onshore Hiring Abroad – Setting up local U.S. teams to reduce immigration hurdles. ✅ Skill Upgrade – Focusing on Cloud, Cybersecurity, Blockchain, and AI certifications for high-value roles. The Long Game: India’s IT sector has survived Y2K, the 2008 recession, and the pandemic. This time will be no different. These challenges will push us towards: * Higher-value consulting & digital transformation roles * Greater self-reliance in product innovation * A surge in globally competitive SaaS and AI startups 💡 Bottom line: The coming years will test resilience, but India’s IT talent pool is too deep, too adaptive, and too driven to be slowed down for long. 🌏 Change is here. Adaptation is not an option—it’s our edge. #IndianIT #DigitalTransformation #AI #Automation #FutureOfWork #GlobalMarkets #Leadership #Innovation

4

1 Comment