The research was conducted by AC Nielsen to gauge the potential of the industry through market study and a patient behaviour analysis. The Research conducted 650 interviews across seven cities among a mix of people with certain specific characteristics.

According to the research, 51 per cent of the people suffering from chronic ailments try home remedies and 30 per cent prefer to leave it unattended. Around 26 per cent of the people resort to medical intervention, of which 47 per cent people visit their family doctor or a GP (general practitioner), 18 per cent resort to conventional treatments and 34 per cent visit a homeopath if their ailment is chronic.

According to WHO, homeopathy is the second largest system of medicine in the world and is experiencing an annual growth of around 20-25 per cent. It is estimated that by 2017, the world homeopathy market would be equivalent to the current alternative healthcare market, which is Rs 52,000 crore.

The research threw light on the friction between conventional medicine and homeopathy. It highlighted that while people opt for conventional medicine because it enjoys top-of-mind recall (59 per cent) and has immediate results (56 per cent), they choose homeopathy because it is safe (53 per cent) or is recommended by friends and relatives (50 per cent). Also, 20 per cent of the population who had never tried allopathy would opt for it because it provides quick relief, and solutions for all problems.

An important aspect to be considered is that while 62 per cent of the current homeopathy users have never tried allopathy, 82 per cent of homoeopathy users would not switch to conventional treatments. If a person enrolls for homeopathy in the early stages of his problem, it is less likely he would want to switch to conventional treatments.