Hospitals may raise IT innovation spend by 20-25% amid AI boost: Report

Indian hospitals to raise IT spending in next 2–3 years, with AI, automation, and data-driven tools driving digital healthcare transformation, says CII–EY survey. Amid increased emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, Indian hospitals are expected to raise their information technology (IT) innovation spending by 20–25 per cent over the next two to three years, according to CII–EY HealthTech Survey 2025.  It noted that nearly half of the hospitals have already allocated 20–50 per cent of their IT budgets to digital initiatives.  The report, released at the CII Hospital Tech Summit, highlights artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and data-driven decision-making as top priorities for providers.  The survey shows that 60 per cent of hospitals are directing investments towards IT capability building, 50 per cent towards business intelligence tools and data lakes, and a significant share into AI-led use cases such as clinical documentation (72 per cent), decision support systems (64 per cent) and imaging (60 per cent). Workforce upskilling (60 per cent), resistance to change, legacy system integration and data management remain among the biggest challenges.    Hospitals say the report’s forecasts broadly align with their own investment plans, with some even exceeding the projected spend. At Saifee Hospital, we are in the process of revamping our entire IT infrastructure and adopting AI-based electronic health records (EHR) and hospital management information systems (HMIS). The budget expenditure is more than 20–25 per cent as predicted by the report, and we expect the same at most hospitals,” said Hardik Ajmera, medical director, Saifee Hospital, Mumbai.  At Ujala Cygnus Healthcare Services, digital spending is currently lower but expanding. “We are spending around 5–7 per cent of our budget on IT, automation, CRM-related infrastructure, and clinical decision support and control systems. We see it increasing over the next two to three years to above 10 per cent as we invest more in developing AI capabilities to automate back-end processes,” said Prateek Ghosal, chief of strategy, Growth and Digital, Ujala Cygnus Healthcare Services.  Kailash Group of Hospitals has also committed to scaling its digital initiatives. “We have invested ₹5 crore towards IT innovation, of which nearly 25–30 per cent is channelled into digital initiatives,” said Pallavi Sharma, director, Kailash Group of Hospitals.  “Looking ahead, we expect this spending to rise in line with the industry trend, with an anticipated increase of around 25 per cent over the next two years.”  Eye care chain Maxivision is pushing ahead with a more aggressive approach. “Today, more than 30 per cent of our IT budget is already allocated to digital initiatives, and this share will continue to rise in the next two to three years, in line with the broader industry trajectory,” said Ganesh Subramaniam, chief business officer, Maxivision Super Specialty Eye Hospital.  “Our intent is to move beyond the 20–25 per cent growth forecasts and build a sustained edge by scaling technology-led solutions.”  The report also noted that while most hospitals have established privacy and compliance frameworks, adoption of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission remains partial, underlining the need for stronger alignment between government and healthcare providers.