Tatas foray into big data and digital healthcare

The $100-billion Tata Group under new Chairman Cyrus Mistry is making a big foray into the next big wave of digital healthcare and big data services.

The Group has taken a decision recently to give these two new emerging businesses focused group attention. Sources say Tata Industries will be taking the initiative to create two separate verticals under it to give it management time, attention and resources.

Tata Industries has been a vehicle for the Group's entry into new and high-tech businesses. In the past, the company has been instrumental in promoting businesses in telecom, financial services, IT, auto component and control systems.

Currently, apart from digital healthcare and big data, Tata Industries is also focusing on energy and materials as two other verticals with promise for the future.

The digital healthcare business will focus on analytics-based electronic medical records, clinical diagnostics, monitoring devices, home monitoring and mobile tracking of health and wellness parameters. The objective is preventive and predictive healthcare, which has been a big theme in the market.

The digital theme of Tatas also goes well with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India campaign where the PM talked about making healthcare affordable and within reach of the poor. Healthcare as an industry has been the fastest growing segment with corporates making foray into hospitals.

The sector has the potential to grow big given the increasing per capita income, urbanisation and health awareness amongst people.

The big data business will build a common data analytics platform and help companies generate unique consumer insights to increase sales, reduce customer acquisition costs and improve targeting of customers, improve efficiency and also help in customer retention strategy. Overall, big data will give competitive advantages to companies in today's cut throat competition. NASSCOM has recently estimated the data analytics market to be $2.3 billion in the next three years.

Sources say the two men spearheading the new digital initiatives are K.R.S. Jamwal and R.R. Bhinge. Both are executive directors at Tata Industries.

Jamwal has expertise in start-ups and new businesses. In fact, he was earlier Vice President (Strategy) at Tata Sons, and worked very closely with then chairman Ratan Tata in policy formulation for the Group.

Bhinge has been an old guard at Tata Industries where he worked with Ratan Tata and Kishore Chaukar, who came in from ICICI Securities in the late 1990s, for implementing the new strategic plan for the company.