1Mg

Market position

1mg is one of the largest players in Indian digital health. In 2023 it was reported to hold approximately 31% of the Indian e-pharmacy market by GMV, making it the largest e-pharmacy platform in India at that time, having overtaken PharmEasy. Its principal competitors include PharmEasy, Reliance-owned Netmeds, Medlife (absorbed by PharmEasy), MedPlus, Flipkart Health+ and Amazon's limited-geography pharmacy service, along with earlier rivals such as Lybrate, mChemist and CareOnGo. The Indian e-pharmacy segment was estimated at $360 million in size in 2020 by EY India, with industry projections of $2.7 billion by 2023 and a user base of about nine million households following pandemic-driven adoption.

Rather than deriving the bulk of revenue from chronic-patient medicine delivery as most Indian e-pharmacies do, 1mg concentrated on scaling adjacent verticals such as lab tests and online doctor consultations, with diagnostics and lab testing accounting for a majority of annual revenues alongside medicine delivery, B2B healthcare supply and subscription care plans. The company combines its digital platform with owned physical assets — retail pharmacy outlets, NABL-accredited diagnostic laboratories and a CAP-accredited national reference laboratory — and publishes medicine information including generic substitutes and pricing comparisons. Since 2021 it has operated under the Tata brand and within the Tata Digital ecosystem.

Technology

The company runs a consumer website and mobile app backed by a medicine database with information on drug usage, side effects, pricing and generic substitutes, covering detailed information on around 100,000 medicines. It applies AI in an 'Ask a Doctor' chatbot that questions users to identify the likely medical specialisation for their complaint before routing them to a doctor for chat-based diagnosis. Operationally it uses SaaS-based multi-channel order management and warehouse automation, has invested in cold chain capability, and runs accredited laboratory infrastructure including a CAP-accredited national reference laboratory.

Go-to-market

Distribution is primarily direct-to-consumer through the 1mg website and mobile app, supported by an expanding retail pharmacy footprint and home diagnostic sample collection. Marketing is predominantly digital, using push notifications and email to publicise city-level availability, supplemented by offline channels such as newspaper advertising and health camps tailored to particular cities. The platform also carries native advertising for pharmaceutical companies and serves business customers through B2B distribution of medicines and healthcare products.

Indian consumers seeking prescription and over-the-counter medicines, wellness and nutrition products, diagnostic lab tests and online doctor consultations, including patients requiring ongoing therapy management such as cancer care and obesity management. The company also serves pharmaceutical advertisers, business customers via B2B medicine distribution, and corporate clients through health and wellness programmes.

Geography

Operations are focused on India. The e-pharmacy supply chain covers more than 20,000 pin codes nationwide; pharmacy operations have been extended to 600 cities, and order management and warehouse automation covers over 1,000 cities. The company is headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana, operates a National Reference Laboratory in Okhla, New Delhi, and runs a network of retail pharmacy outlets and diagnostic laboratories, including a store at RR Nagar, Bangalore.

History

The platform originated as HealthkartPlus, a digital health and medicine-information service launched in 2012 by Bright Lifecare Private Limited (Healthkart). In 2015 the generic drug search business was spun off into 1MG Technologies Private Limited and rebranded as 1mg, while Healthkart continued separately in fitness and nutrition. 1mg built an online medicine database covering drug usage, side effects and generic substitutes, then expanded into home delivery of prescription and OTC medicines and diagnostic testing. It raised successive venture rounds from 2016 through 2020 from investors including Sequoia Capital India (Peak XV Partners), HBM Healthcare Investments, Maverick Ventures, Omidyar Network, Redwood Global Healthcare Fund, International Finance Corporation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In June 2021 Tata Digital acquired a majority stake of roughly 55%, after which the platform was rebranded Tata 1mg and integrated into the Tata Group's digital ecosystem, with co-founder Prashant Tandon continuing to lead the company. Reporting in 2023 placed Tata 1mg as the largest Indian e-pharmacy by GMV, and in December 2025 the company reported positive EBITDA across its core business lines.

Risks & controversies

The company operates in a regulated environment; early challenges included government compliance rules requiring prescriptions for purchases and restrictions on online pharmacies, difficulty in onboarding vendors able to meet computerised inventory and invoicing requirements, low consumer trust in online pharmacy at launch, and assuring pharmaceutical quality across an internet-mediated supply chain. Financially, the company has been loss-making, reporting losses of nearly INR 318 crore in FY20, INR 1,255 crore in FY23 and INR 313 crore in FY24. Competitive pressure has intensified as large conglomerates entered the segment, with Reliance acquiring Netmeds and PharmEasy consolidating Medlife.