Rolston PaulOperations field notes

Data

India medical value travel numbers, with sources

Every public figure this site cites on medical travel to India, each with its source, its date and a note.

Copied from published sources, with no forecasts. Last checked . Updated quarterly.

01

What this page is

This page keeps the public numbers on medical value travel to India that this site cites. Medical value travel is the term India's government and industry use for travel to another country for treatment. Each number sits in a row with what it measures, the period it covers, its source, the date the source was published and a note.

Every number comes from a published source that the site has read and keeps a copy of. Nothing here is a forecast. This site has not worked out any total or percentage of its own. Where two sources give different numbers for the same thing, both rows are shown and both are marked disputed.

The numbers were last checked on 23 October 2026. The page will be checked again every quarter, which means every three months, and the date will change when it is.

02

Why the numbers matter

Numbers about medical travel to India are quoted often and sourced rarely. A figure copied from a copy loses its date, its period and what it counted. A reader then cannot tell a count of patients from a count of visas.

India's government reports these arrivals to Parliament. The counts come from the Bureau of Immigration, the agency that records who enters the country. That is a public record a reader abroad can check, and India's case is stronger when it rests on numbers like that.

The numbers also show a risk. Business Today reported in March 2025 that Bangladesh accounts for nearly 70% of India's medical value travel. When one country sends most of the patients, one border decision can move the national total.

03

How to read and cite these numbers

  • Quote a number with its source and its period. For example: over 6.59 lakh foreign tourists came to India for medical treatment in 2023, from Bureau of Immigration data reported by DD News.
  • One lakh is one hundred thousand. FY25 means India's financial year from April 2024 to March 2025.
  • Read the note on a row before you use it. Some rows count patients, some count visas and some count every visitor from one country.
  • A row marked disputed has a second row with a different number for the same thing. Give both numbers with their sources, or wait for the primary release.
  • Link to the original source where you can, and to this page for the comparison.

There is a trade-off here. One clean number is easier to quote than two that disagree. In my judgement the honest choice for 2024 is to give both figures with their sources, and to lead with 2023, where the reports agree, until the Bureau of Immigration publishes its own release.

Foreign patients arriving in India

MeasurePeriodValueSourcePublishedNote
Foreign tourists who came to India for medical treatment2019Nearly 6.97 lakhDD News, citing Bureau of Immigration data, in a written Lok Sabha replyNo date shown; reports figures to November 2025The year before COVID-19. The same reply says the number fell sharply in 2020 but gives no figure for that year.
Foreign tourists who came to India for medical treatment2022475,000Business Standard, citing Bureau of Immigration dataGiven by Business Standard as the base for its comparison with 2024.
Foreign tourists who came to India for medical treatment2023Over 6.59 lakhDD News, citing Bureau of Immigration data, in a written Lok Sabha replyNo date shown; reports figures to November 2025Agrees with the Business Standard figure for 2023.
Foreign tourists who came to India for medical treatment2023659,000Business Standard, citing Bureau of Immigration dataAgrees with the DD News figure for 2023.
Foreign tourists who came to India for medical treatment20246.44 lakhDisputedDD News, citing Bureau of Immigration data, in a written Lok Sabha replyNo date shown; reports figures to November 2025Disputed. Business Standard gives 625,000 for the same year from the same data. Check the primary Bureau of Immigration release before using either.
Foreign tourists who came to India for medical treatment2024625,000DisputedBusiness Standard, citing Bureau of Immigration dataDisputed. DD News gives 6.44 lakh for the same year from the same data. Business Standard says the 2024 figure is still 32 per cent higher than 2022.
Foreign tourists who came to India for medical treatmentJanuary to November 2025More than 4.5 lakhDD News, citing Bureau of Immigration data, in a written Lok Sabha replyNo date shown; reports figures to November 2025Provisional, and eleven months only, so it is not a full year.

Where the patients come from

MeasurePeriodValueSourcePublishedNote
Bangladesh's share of India's medical value travelNot statedNearly 70%Business TodayThe article gives no period or base for this share.
Bangladesh's share of India's medical tourists202269%Business Today, citing ICRIER policy brief, Looking Beyond BangladeshICRIER is the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, a research institute.
Bangladesh's share of the medical visas India issuesNot stated70 to 75 per centBusiness Standard, citing ICRA, a ratings agencyA share of visas, not of patients who arrived. Do not swap it for the two shares above.
Medical tourists from Bangladesh2023449,570, up 48 per cent on the year beforeBusiness StandardThe article does not name the data behind this count.
Medical value travel to India, change on the same month a year beforeNovember 2024Down 43%Business TodayMedical value travel, citing Ministry of Tourism data. This is a different measure from the visitor counts below.
Medical value travel to India, change on the same month a year beforeDecember 2024Down 59%Business TodayAs above, medical value travel, citing Ministry of Tourism data.
Visitors from Bangladesh, change on the same month a year beforeNovember 2024Down 44%Business TodayThe article calls these foreign tourist arrivals. It does not say they are medical visitors only.
Visitors from Bangladesh, change on the same month a year beforeDecember 2024Down 67%Business TodayAs above, all visitors from Bangladesh, not only medical visitors.
Visitors from BangladeshDecember 202460,800, a drop of 70% from the June 2024 peakBusiness TodayAs above, all visitors from Bangladesh. The June 2024 count itself is not given.
Medical visas issued to Bangladeshi nationals each monthBefore the unrest, and at the time of reportingAround 10,000 before; 800 to 900 priority medical visas at the timeBusiness Standard, citing a hospital executive, quotedAn estimate from one hospital executive, not an official count. The same quote says 19 visa centres in Bangladesh had been shut.

Revenue

MeasurePeriodValueSourcePublishedNote
Medical travel revenue from patients in Bangladesh, change on the year beforeFY25, the year to March 2025Down 30 to 35 per centBusiness Standard, citing Crisil Ratings, a ratings agencyAn estimate, not a count. Crisil said the fall came mainly in the first half of the year.
International patients' share of revenue at most listed hospitalsNot stated3 to 9 per centBusiness Standard, citing ICRA, a ratings agencyListed hospitals only. ICRA expects this share to stay largely stable.

Hospitals and standing

MeasurePeriodValueSourcePublishedNote
Hospitals in India accredited by NABHNot statedOver 1,200Business Today, citing ICRIER policy briefNABH is the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers. The same report says only a few Indian hospitals hold JCI accreditation, and gives no number.
India's rank in the global Medical Tourism Index2020-2110thBusiness Today, citing ICRIER policy briefThe report places India behind Thailand, Singapore and Turkey.
Healthcare prices in India compared with Western countriesNot statedUp to 65% lowerBusiness Today, citing ICRIER policy briefAn upper bound, not an average, and no treatments are named.

04

Where the sources disagree

  • The 2024 total. DD News reports 6.44 lakh foreign tourists for medical treatment. Business Standard reports 625,000. Both say the figure comes from Bureau of Immigration data. For 2023 they agree, at over 6.59 lakh and 659,000. This page does not choose between the 2024 figures.
  • Bangladesh's share. Business Today gives nearly 70% of medical value travel, with no period. Business Today, citing ICRIER, gives 69% of medical tourists in 2022. Business Standard, citing ICRA, gives 70 to 75 per cent of medical visas. These measure different things, so they do not contradict each other, but they should not be swapped.
  • Visitors from Bangladesh in late 2024. Business Today's monthly falls are for all visitors from Bangladesh. The article does not say how many of them came for treatment.

The reasoning behind these numbers is set out in the field note One source country: concentration risk in medical travel to India

India's medical travel arrivals are reported to Parliament and can be checked by anyone. Quoting them with their source, period and note is how the case for India stays honest abroad.

Sources