India's health club industry is ripe for growth, though its people are yet to embrace fitness as a lifestyle, according to new research from Deloitte China and IHRSA.

The research was featured in the April 2019 issue of HCM.

It showed that a nation of more than 1.3 billion people currently has only two million health club memberships – a penetration rate of just 0.15 per cent, which is the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region.

These are currently mostly concentrated in bigger cities such as Mumbai and Delhi, while smaller cities such as Hyderabad and Ahmedabad are less fitness-aware and have less spending power.

However, the majority of clubs in India (60 to 70 per cent) are low cost, typically charging less than US$200 for an annual membership. High-end, premium clubs account for just 5 per cent of the market.

Members are typically between the ages of 20 and 40, with women making up around 40 per cent of total club memberships. However, dropout rates are high in India – around 70 to 80 per cent – as many treat fitness as a goal to be achieved, rather than a lifestyle to be maintained. Consequently, they tend not to renew once they have achieved their primary fitness goal.

There are more than 3,800 health club sites in India - the third most among Asia-Pacific markets.

To read the full article see the April 2019 of HCM here