Medical Tourism Trends and Foreign Exchange Earnings in India

Abstract

Medical tourism refers to the movement of people to a country in order to receive better medical care. This movement of people from other countries contributes noticeable foreign exchange earnings in the host country. In the first half of 2025, India received 5.6 million FTAs (Foreign Tourist Arrivals) and the first tertile of 2025 has a record of 131856 medical tourist arrivals. This study examines the trends in medical tourism and corresponding foreign exchange earnings in India and identifies the relationship between them. The study also analyzes the foreign exchange contribution of each medical tourist arriving to India. This research involves the use of secondary data from government tourism statistics, published reports and articles. Trend analysis of summarized data shows that the foreign exchange earnings have increased approximately from US$780 million in 2010 to US$7.0 billion in 2023. The study explains that this growth is supported by remarkable medical service through doctors of high expertise, government initiatives like e-medical visas and specific health care policies. Even though some bottlenecks exist in managing medical tourism, the sector has generated more employment in recent years. Recommendations of this study include improving high caliber certifications of hospitals, expanding the tie-ups with international insurance and easing the transport to medical hubs. Overall, the study confirms that medical tour to India is rapidly growing which indicates the enhanced potential of India on becoming the global leader of medical tourism.