In this era, when beauty, wellness and healthcare have gained a universal appeal in urban India, franchising offers huge business opportunities to these sectors. In a recently held franchise knowledge series workshop, in Mumbai, experts from these fields shared their views on the rising trends of franchising in beauty, wellness and health sectors. My sole aim is to provide my readers with some major factors that have propelled the Indian entrepreneurs to invest in these sectors.

One of the main reasons of the popularity of these sectors is the rising disposal income and changing lifestyles of the Indians. In an age where looking and feeling beautiful is given prime importance, these sectors have ushered to meet this rising trend. The beauty services industry, largely unorganised is steadily taking the organised route through franchising.

Also, for age group beyond 40, health related issues have become a major cause of concern. Chronic ailments like asthama, diabetics and hypertension are emerging as key-drivers for greater acceptability of regular preventive health check-ups. Another factor is the emergence of health insurance. More and more people are covering their health risks under the various schemes. The tier-II and tier-III cities have emerged as expansion grounds of the franchised outlets. It is expected that healthcare is soon to become one of India’s largest sectors, in terms of revenue and employment, and the sector is expanding rapidly. The Indian healthcare industry is estimated to be about Rs 200,000 crore and is projected to reach Rs 300,000 crore by 2012.

Thus, the workshop provided us with many interesting facts and figures of these three sectors. Such workshops do wonders in informing and educating the masses about the effectiveness of franchising as a medium of expansion.