Care World TV, Asia’s only satellite Health Channel has launched India’s first Wellness Shopping Channel. Initially launched as a 3 hour slot titled ‘Wellness Mall’ within Care World TV, it will soon be migrated to a dedicated television channel. Care World TV is India’s first and only healthcare channel. With its venture into Wellness Shopping, the channel will showcase and sell a range of products in 6 broad categories viz. Beauty Care, Fitness and Slimming, Health and Wellness, Food and Beverages, Rejuvenation & Alternate therapy. With attractive deals and offers, products from across the globe will be sourced and made available to consumers. Speaking about this new venture, Ajit Gupta, Managing Director, Care World TV said, “For a while now Care World TV has been leading the viewership in the health space. The response towards our channel has grown by many folds. Viewers have been interacting constantly with us via website, email, social media and popular shows like ‘Ask the Doctor’ and ‘Psychology Behind Love’ among others. Hence, launching the Wellness mall was an obvious extension.” The Wellness Sector in India is expected to touch Rs. 950 billion by 2014 and will grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 18%-20% as per a new report by PWC-FICCI (PricewaterhouseCoopers’ – Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry). The sector size was estimated at Rs.590 billion in 2011 recording a growth of 20% over the previous year. Key driver for this growth would be the 40 + age group. Rising disposable income, changing lifestyle, easy payment options and availability of range of brands are attracting more and more buyers to avail the modern retail facility. It is estimated that out of about 220 million households in India, approx 130 million have cable or direct to home (DTH) TV connection. Considering the trouble-free access to the channel, Care World Tv expects to reach to about 1 million audiences by end of Dec 2013. It has already started building its distribution network and will be engaging about 20,000 vendors across the country to cater the market within decided timeframes. It aims to target mainly the Hindi speaking belt, whose annual income is upwards of Rs. 2,00,000. “The wellness sector is booming in today’s age. With the Wellness Shopping Show we will be catering to Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 Cities. The call centers will be manned by Experts who will provide necessary information instantly. We are expecting 25% of the turn-over from repeat purchase,” concluded Ajit Gupta.