India will need an additional 2.6 billion sq. ft. of healthcare real estate by 2035, as the country needs nearly 2.9 million incremental hospital beds to align with global healthcare infrastructure benchmarks
NEW DELHI — India will need an additional 2.6 billion sq. ft. of healthcare real estate by 2035, as the country needs nearly 2.9 million incremental hospital beds to align with global healthcare infrastructure benchmarks, a report said on Friday.
The report from CBRE South Asia said the country currently has nearly 1.6 hospital beds per 1,000 people, well below the global average of 3.3 per 1,000, and that India’s total healthcare real estate footprint would need to expand substantially from an estimated 2.1 billion sq. ft. in 2025 to close the gap.
"The requirement presents a significant opportunity for developers, investors and healthcare operators to create purpose-built and scalable healthcare assets across markets," the report said.
Healthcare investment is increasingly shifting towards specialised facilities, day-care formats and acquisition-led expansion. Southern states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka have higher existing healthcare infrastructure relative to their non-communicable disease (NCD) burden.
Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand have low bed density relative to non‑communicable disease burdens, while Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have stronger infrastructure and household incomes, supporting further expansion of specialised healthcare facilities and medical ecosystems.
“Healthcare is emerging as one of India’s most consequential real estate opportunities, not simply because demand for care is increasing, but because the country needs a far deeper and more distributed physical healthcare network,” said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and CEO, India, South-East Asia, Middle East and Africa, CBRE.
“Built-to-suit (BTS) structures can play an important role in addressing this requirement by providing operators with specialised, purpose-built clinical infrastructure aligned with their operational and regulatory needs," he said.
This would allow healthcare providers to direct more capital towards clinical services, medical equipment and technology, while offering property owners greater income visibility through long-term leases, he added.
Beyond conventional hospitals, the sector is also witnessing the growth of diagnostic centres, day-care surgery centres, wellness and preventive healthcare formats, including health screening centres, rehabilitation clinics, eye-care centres, IVF centres and vaccination facilities, particularly in urban locations.
Due to the highly competitive landscape in certain cities, operators are increasingly evaluating existing hospitals to enter established markets faster, leveraging operational infrastructure, licences and patient networks, the report noted.