India will require nearly 2.9 million additional hospital beds by 2035 to align with global healthcare infrastructure benchmarks, according to a report released on Friday, 16 October 2026 by CBRE South Asia. Meeting that target will demand an additional 2.6 billion sq. ft. of healthcare real estate, expanding the country's total healthcare footprint substantially from an estimated 2.1 billion sq. ft. in 2025.

The Infrastructure Gap

India currently has approximately 1.6 hospital beds per 1,000 people — well below the global average of 3.3 beds per 1,000, according to the CBRE report. Closing this gap within a decade will require not just capital, but a fundamental rethinking of how and where healthcare facilities are built and operated across the country.

'The requirement presents a significant opportunity for developers, investors and healthcare operators to create purpose-built and scalable healthcare assets across markets,' the report stated.

Regional Disparities in Healthcare Access

The report highlights sharp regional imbalances in existing infrastructure. Southern states — Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka — have relatively higher bed density compared to their non-communicable disease (NCD) burden. By contrast, states such as Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand face a more acute shortfall, with low bed density relative to NCD burden.

Notably, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana are identified as markets with stronger infrastructure and household incomes, positioning them for further expansion of specialised healthcare facilities and medical ecosystems.

Shift Towards Built-to-Suit and Specialised Formats

Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and CEO — India, South-East Asia, Middle East and Africa — at CBRE, said the scale of the challenge demands a structurally different approach. '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,' he said.

Magazine argued that built-to-suit (BTS) structures could play a central role: '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.' Such arrangements, he added, would free up healthcare providers to direct capital towards clinical services, medical equipment and technology, while giving property owners long-term income visibility through extended leases.

Beyond Hospitals: Day-Care and Wellness Infrastructure

Healthcare investment is increasingly moving beyond conventional hospital formats. The sector is witnessing rapid growth in diagnostic centres, day-care surgery centres, and preventive healthcare formats — including health screening centres, rehabilitation clinics, eye-care centres, IVF centres, and vaccination facilities — particularly in urban locations.

The report also notes a trend towards acquisition-led expansion: in highly competitive city markets, operators are evaluating existing hospitals as entry points to leverage operational infrastructure, licences, and established patient networks, rather than building from scratch.

What This Means for Investors and Policy

This comes amid growing recognition that India's healthcare sector is both a public policy imperative and a large-scale commercial opportunity. Healthcare investment is shifting towards specialised facilities and scalable formats that can be replicated across Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, where the infrastructure deficit is most acute.

With 2035 as the target horizon, stakeholders across real estate, private equity, and healthcare operations face a narrow window to deploy capital at scale — and the CBRE findings suggest that without coordinated action, the gap between India's bed density and global benchmarks will persist well into the next decade.