India needs 2.6 billion sq ft of healthcare space by 2035, says CBRE

New Delhi: Real estate consultant CBRE on Friday said India needs more hospital beds to meet demand and projected that an additional 2.6 billion sq ft area is required to be built by 2035.

The incremental requirement of hospitals presents a significant opportunity for developers, investors and healthcare operators, CBRE South Asia Pvt Ltd said in a report titled 'Beyond Core: A 2035 View of India's Alternate Sectors'."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.

The consultant said India is projected to require an additional 2.6 billion sq ft of healthcare real estate by 2035, driven by the need for nearly 2.9 million incremental hospital beds.

The country has about 1.6 hospital beds per 1,000 people, significantly below the global average of 3.3 per 1,000 people, CBRE said."To close this capacity gap, the country's total healthcare real estate footprint would need to expand substantially from an estimated 2.1 billion sq ft in 2025," the consultant said.

The report pointed out significant disparities in healthcare infrastructure across states.

Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand have low hospital bed density compared with their disease burden, indicating potential unmet demand for secondary and tertiary healthcare services.

Meanwhile, states such as Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have relatively stronger healthcare infrastructure and higher household incomes, the report said.