India must add nearly 29 lakh hospital beds and 260 crore sq ft of healthcare real estate by 2035 to reach the global standard, property consultancy CBRE said on Friday.
The country’s healthcare footprint, estimated at 210 crore sq ft in 2025, will have to more than double. The findings are in CBRE South Asia’s new report, “Beyond Core: A 2035 View of India’s Alternate Sectors – Part I”.
India’s hospital bed shortage
India has 1.6 hospital beds per 1,000 people. The global average is 3.3.
CBRE called the gap a major opening for real estate developers, investors and hospital operators to build purpose-built healthcare assets that can scale across cities.
States with the worst gaps
Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand have the fewest beds for their burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Demand for specialist and advanced hospital care there remains unmet.
The south is ahead. Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka have more healthcare infrastructure for their NCD burden. Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana also have higher household incomes, which leaves room for more specialised hospitals and medical clusters.
Most consequential real estate opportunity
“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.
He pitched built-to-suit (BTS) hospital buildings as part of the answer.
“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,” Magazine 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.”
Hospital chains buying, not building
Healthcare investment is moving to single-speciality hospitals, day-care and outpatient centres, and acquisitions.
In crowded city markets, operators are buying existing hospitals to get in faster. They take over the building, licences and patient base in one go.
Smaller formats are also growing fast in cities. These include diagnostic centres, day-care surgery centres, health screening centres, rehabilitation clinics, eye-care centres, IVF centres, vaccination centres and other wellness and preventive care formats.
Medical office buildings next
Medical office buildings are still new to India, but CBRE sees room for them. One building could house diagnostics, rehabilitation, child development, IVF, eye-care, dental and wellness providers. Patients get several services under one roof, and owners get better use of the asset.
Tier-II, tier-III cities in focus
“India’s healthcare infrastructure requirement cannot be addressed through a uniform development model,” said Rami Kaushal, Managing Director, Consulting and Valuation Services, India, Middle East and Africa, CBRE.
“The current landscape creates scope for a diversified development pipeline, ranging from large integrated healthcare campuses and multi- and single-speciality hospitals to medical office buildings, diagnostics and day-care facilities,” he said. “In addition to top cities, tier-II and tier-III locations are particularly important in this context, where lower land costs and the availability of larger parcels can support cost-efficient, purpose-built healthcare developments.”
