Tata 1mg eyes the e-pharmacy crown

Speaking on the acquisition for the first time, Tata 1mg CTO Gaurav Agarwal said there is no other brand in India that is more synonymous with trust than the Tatas.

Sunday November 28, 2021 , 3 min Read

Tata Digital’s majority stake acquisition in 1mg, one of the most-watched deals in the online healthcare industry in the past 18 months, brought the conglomerate into the fast-moving digital wellness ecosystem of India.

Gaurav Agarwal, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the digital healthcare platform 1MG, believes a close partnership with the Tata brand will provide much-needed firepower to propel its ambitions.

Agarwal was speaking at a panel discussion at the Ascent eConclave on Friday.

Gurugram-headquartered 1mg needs all the ammunition it can get to accelerate its business in the booming healthcare space. Other major deals that have taken place in the ecosystem include Reliance Retail’s acquisition of a majority stake in Netmeds for Rs 620 crore in August 2020 and online pharmacy Pharmeasy buying Medlife in May 2021, and diagnostic chain Thyrocare a month later.

Gaurav believes that online healthcare has room for at least three players, especially because 97 percent of the pharmacy industry is still offline. The future is omnichannel, he asserts, adding that Pharmeasy and Tata 1mg are currently leading the pack.

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