Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal calls for India to go big on medical tourism as current share is ‘miniscule’

India’s share in the global medical tourism market remains “miniscule”, likely because of infrastructure and regulatory issues, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday (November 11, 2025). 

However, he also said the government was a listening one, and that it wanted to work with industry to “go big” in this area. Towards this, he said the government was willing to consider various proposals made by the medical industry, such as visas on arrival for medical tourists, and allowing NRI doctors to work in Indian hospitals.  

“My figure suggests that it [the medical tourism market] could be over $800 billion and expected to become a trillion dollar market including wellness or preventive care,” Mr. Goyal said while speaking at the CII Annual Health Summit 2025. “You are looking at a huge, colossal business possibility with India’s share being minuscule. Lets aspire to go big on this.”

“Of course, we’ve not been able to achieve that as yet because, possibly, infrastructure is not good enough, possibly we need to make some amendments to our regulatory practices,” he added. 

The Minister added that the government recognises that India can’t have a “chalk and cheese” medical system where the domestic population is not eligible for healthcare while our health facilities are focused only on international patients. 

“It’s important to ensure that 1.4 billion Indians get access to quality and affordable healthcare,” Mr. Goyal said. “So when we look at medical tourism or medical facilities being available for international people to come and take services in India… it’s only possible because we have been able to create this foundation of affordable and quality healthcare for every citizen of India first.”

He asserted that the government has created this foundation over the last decade, with the number of AIIMS growing from 7 to 23 and the number of medical colleges nearly doubling from 387 to 706 over that period, along with the introduction and spread of schemes like Ayushman Bharat and the Jan Aushadi Kendras. 

Mr. Goyal acknowledged that the medical industry had asked for some medicines to be exempt from non-GST duties and levies and asked the assembled practitioners to send him a list of such medicines and told them the government would look into it. 

Regarding medical tourism, he further said that the government was open to considering various proposals made by the industry. 

“The idea about visa on arrival [for medical tourists], it’s a good idea,” Mr. Goyal said. “Of course, one would have to look at what the certifications will be and which countries we can allow that. I’m happy to tell you that we allow many countries visa on arrival or e-visas as well. This can be considered for the United States, for most of the European companies.”

He said such a system could be considered for most of the countries where India has a “fair amount of comfort, where detailed investigations or enquiries are not required”. 

Mr. Goyal also said the government was open to the idea of allowing NRI doctors to come work in Indian hospitals as international patients are often more comfortable with their own doctors. However, he said that the Indian Medical Association, the industry body for doctors, would first have to agree with this proposal.