New Delhi, Jan 27 (IANS): A pre-budget expectations survey on Wednesday showed increasing demand for incentivising investments in healthcare sector.

As per the Grant Thornton Bharat survey, nearly 58 per cent of the respondents believe that fiscal incentives will encourage private investment in the rural healthcare infrastructure.

"More than 55 per cent of the respondents feel that a mix of fiscal incentives and public-private partnerships will encourage private investments in the healthcare area," the survey report said.

"Permitting expenditure towards healthcare infrastructure as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure will provide an impetus to investments in rural areas."

Besides, more than 78 per cent expect more than 2 per cent of GDP as healthcare expenditure.

Furthermore, zero-rated Goods and Services Tax (GST) structure for healthcare services has emerged as a key demand, with nearly 78 per cent of respondents favouring such a regime.

According to Bhanu Prakash Kalmath S.J., Partner and Sector Leader - Pharma & Healthcare, Grant Thornton Bharat: "Availability, accessibility and affordability have been the focus of the government and an increase in healthcare budget allocation to at least 3 per cent of the GDP over the next few years will provide the desired impetus."