This article is authored by Ankita Srivastava, General Manager, The Healthy Indian Project.
For years, preventive healthcare in India has been dismissed as a market that doesn’t work. The standard argument is simple: people don’t like to spend money today to avoid an illness that may or may not come tomorrow. But what if this assumption has less to do with reality and more to do with how narrowly we define preventive healthcare?
Most conversations stop at primary prevention – eating healthy, exercising, lifestyle changes, and vaccines. Adoption here is undoubtedly low, both in awareness and willingness to pay. But preventive healthcare has two other critical dimensions: secondary prevention (early detection through health screenings, blood tests, cancer checks, etc.) and tertiary prevention (chronic disease management to avoid complications). These are not abstract, “maybe” solutions. They are immediate needs for millions of Indians.
Look at the numbers. Chronic diseases already affect 270 million people in India, contributing to 68% of deaths nationwide. One in three Indians is pre-diabetic, two in three are pre-hypertensive, and cancer cases are projected to rise from 1.39 million in 2020 to 1.57 million by 2025. Obesity rates have doubled in the last decade. Clearly, Indians are already engaging with preventive healthcare, whether through lab tests, check-ups, or long-term disease management.
The problem is not lack of demand, but lack of recognition. When we only look at primary prevention, we conclude that public interest is low. But if we account for secondary and tertiary services, we see a thriving ecosystem. Insurance players, hospitals, and digital platforms are building offerings that millions are quietly paying for.
For investors, this creates a powerful case. The Preventive Healthcare Market in India is not small, nor is it premature. It is already here, only misunderstood. The opportunity lies in building trust, scaling delivery, and deepening health literacy. Viewed in this light, preventive healthcare is not a dead end. It is one of the most promising frontiers in Indian healthcare.
—Ends—
