Budget 2026: Max Healthcare, Apollo Hospitals, other stocks rise up to 4% as FM boosts medical tourism

Shares of Max Healthcare, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, Narayana Health, Fortis Healthcare, and Aster DM, among others, rose as much as 4% after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced measures to boost medical tourism in the Union Budget 2026.

"To promote India as a hub for medical tourism services, I propose to launch a Scheme to support States in establishing five Regional Medical Hubs, in partnership with the private sector. These Hubs will serve as integrated healthcare complexes that combine medical, educational and research facilities. They will have AYUSH Centres, Medical Value Tourism Facilitation Centres and infrastructure for diagnostics, post-care and rehabilitation. These Hubs will provide diverse job opportunities for health professionals including doctors and AHPs." FM Nirmala Sitharaman said.

The scheme seeks to support states in developing large-scale, integrated healthcare hubs designed to attract international patients while simultaneously strengthening domestic healthcare capacity.


These hubs are envisioned as end-to-end healthcare ecosystems, combining advanced hospital infrastructure, diagnostics, post-treatment and rehabilitation services, along with AYUSH systems under a single framework. Beyond enhancing India’s global healthcare standing and foreign exchange inflows, the initiative is expected to create wide-ranging employment opportunities for doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, technicians, and support staff, positioning healthcare as a key driver of both economic growth and job creation.

Axis Direct had expected the government to consider a tax holiday of up to 15 years for newly established medical tourism–focused hospitals, along with 10 years of tax relief for existing hospitals undertaking reinvestment and expansion. Additionally, an incentive allowing 50% of infrastructure capex incurred on new hospitals with over 100 beds as an additional tax deduction could be introduced.

In the biopharma space, Sitharaman announced a major push to position India as a global biopharma manufacturing hub, citing a sharp shift in the country’s disease burden towards non-communicable ailments such as diabetes, cancer and autoimmune disorders.

Addressing Parliament during her Budget speech, Sitharaman said biologic medicines would be critical to improving longevity and quality of life, while also remaining affordable. To this end, she proposed the "Biopharma Shakti" initiative, with a total outlay of Rs 10,000 crore over the next five years, aimed at strengthening domestic production of biologics and biosimilars.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)