NEW DELHI, Dec. 23 -- Smartwatches are getting smarter-at least, health-wise. These devices, so far largely considered lifestyle accessories with basic fitness-tracking features mostly shunned by medical practitioners, are increasingly receiving medical certifications from the Centre-making them health devices that alert users against issues such as heart rate fluctuations, sleep disorders and blood pressure anomalies. On December 4, Apple launched hypertension tracking on its latest Apple Watch Series 11 smartwatch. While the feature does not give a direct blood pressure readout, it monitors a user's blood oxygen, stress levels and other heart-related parameters to notify them that they may have a potential hypertension issue. The company received government approval to offer this clinical-grade feature in late November, a person aware of the development told Mint, making it only the second consumer-grade smartwatch until now to be approved by New Delhi. Hypertension implies high blood pressure, a condition that potentially damages heart tissues in the long run. Almost one-third of all Indians suffer from it, according to the National Institutes of Health's latest statistics. Such features, experts and stakeholders said, represent a rising business opportunity for smartwatch makers as their popularity in India's consumer market continues to decline. Smartwatch sales fell 34% in 2024, and 28% year-on-year in the first six months of this year. Medical wearable adoption, on the other hand, is rising. Market research group Imarc said in October that India's nascent wearable healthcare market, which includes smartwatches, is valued at $1.04 billion-and is projected to rise to $4.2 billion by 2033. India accounts for 2.5% of the world's wearable healthcare market, leaving scope for significant growth here. Data from market researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said that India sold about 13.5 million smartwatches in the first six months of 2025, generating $292 million in net revenue. Advanced smartwatches with clinical-grade healthcare features, such as those from Apple and Korea's Samsung, accounted for only 2.1% of the revenue-generating just over $6 million in the first six months of this year. These, however, are still early days. In January 2024, Samsung became the first company to introduce blood pressure and electrocardiogram (ECG) features in its Galaxy Watch 6 series of smartwatches, stating then that it received clearances for it from India's Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), the statutory body for medical approvals under the Centre's ministry of health and family welfare. Since then and Apple's 4 December announcement, professional athletics tracker Garmin and China's electronics conglomerate Huawei have also launched wearables with similar features. Mint's emails to Garmin and Huawei did not receive responses on whether they procured CDSCO certifications. So far, consumer smartwatches have offered features such as steps, heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring, sleep and calorie tracking, and other such basic features, which do not require government clearance. However, such basic features are now available in smartwatches priced as low as under Rs.1,000 ($11), leaving flagship devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Watch and the Apple Watch with the need for differentiated features....