India must sell 'peace of mind': Anand Mahindra wants Goa, Vizag to become India's next medical tourism hub

India has built a strong pitch for medical tourism around one obvious advantage: cost. Treatment that can be prohibitively expensive in Western countries is often available in India at a fraction of the price. But Anand Mahindra believes that may no longer be enough. The Mahindra Group chairman has argued that India's next big opportunity in medical tourism will depend on something less tangible but equally important: trust. In a social media post, Mahindra said India needs to look beyond the procedure itself and focus on the entire experience of a medical traveller, from the moment they land at an airport until they leave the country.

His larger argument is simple. India should not try to become merely the cheapest destination for medical treatment. It should aim to become a destination where international patients feel they are in safe hands.

India has a cost advantage, but ranks only 10th

Mahindra said India's cost advantage over Western countries is "enormous" across almost every major medical procedure. Yet, according to the research he cited, India ranks only 10th globally as a medical tourism destination. Countries including Thailand, Turkey, Malaysia and Singapore are ahead of India. For Mahindra, that gap raises a bigger question. If price is such a strong advantage, why isn't India further ahead?



His answer is that medical tourism is ultimately a business built on confidence. A patient travelling thousands of kilometres for treatment is not simply buying surgery, a consultation or a hospital bed. The person is trusting an unfamiliar healthcare system in another country, often while dealing with fear, uncertainty and physical discomfort. That makes every part of the journey important.

The airport, taxi and food can matter too

Mahindra pointed to what he called the "small moments" that can shape a medical traveller's experience. The airport. The taxi. The hospital ward. Food. The speed at which a service is provided. The way staff interact with the patient. Even the goodbye before the patient heads home. One weak link, he suggested, can undermine the advantage created by India's lower treatment costs.

This is where Mahindra draws a comparison with the hotel industry. Hotels have spent years mapping the customer journey, identifying the points where a guest's perception can change dramatically. Medical tourism, he believes, needs a similar approach. The hospital cannot be viewed as the entire product. The journey around it matters too.

Mahindra's 'concierge layer' idea

One of the most notable suggestions in Mahindra's post is the creation of a concierge layer for medical tourists. The idea is to make the journey from arrival to departure more seamless, rather than leaving patients and their families to navigate different services on their own. A medical tourist could potentially need help with airport transfers, accommodation, hospital appointments, local transportation, food preferences, documentation and other arrangements around treatment.

These services may appear secondary when compared with the medical procedure itself. But for a patient arriving in an unfamiliar city, they can make the difference between an experience that feels stressful and one that feels managed. Mahindra believes this layer could help India compete on experience, not just price.

Why Goa and Vizag could be India's next medical tourism hubs

Mahindra also pointed to two cities that he believes have the ingredients to become major medical tourism destinations: Goa and Visakhapatnam, or Vizag. His argument is based on infrastructure that already exists. Both cities have air connectivity and hospitality infrastructure, making them relatively attractive locations for international patients and their accompanying family members.

The missing piece, according to Mahindra, is to bring in more hospitals and specialists. Goa already has a powerful tourism brand. Vizag has an established urban and coastal ecosystem. If high-quality hospitals and specialist medical services can be developed alongside those advantages, both cities could potentially build a different kind of medical tourism proposition.

The patient could receive treatment while having access to a destination that is already geared towards visitors.

Amravati and GIFT City should plan health districts now

Mahindra's thinking goes beyond established cities. He said emerging super-cities such as Amravati and GIFT City should begin planning for dedicated health districts now rather than waiting until their urban infrastructure is fully developed. There is, however, a major catch.

Doctors cannot simply be summoned into a newly planned healthcare district. "Doctors don't follow master plans, they follow medical colleges," Mahindra said, pointing to the long lead time needed to build a strong medical ecosystem. His estimate is blunt: developing that ecosystem could take 15 years rather than five.

That means cities planning for medical tourism today would need to think well beyond buildings and hospital projects. Medical colleges, specialist training, research institutions and a steady pipeline of healthcare professionals would have to be part of the plan.

India's medical tourism opportunity could nearly double by 2030

Mahindra believes the broader opportunity is already taking shape. He said India's medical tourism market is expected to nearly double by 2030, describing the expansion as an important potential growth opportunity for the Indian economy. The opportunity is not limited to hospitals.

Medical tourists spend money on accommodation, transportation, food, local services and other forms of travel-related activity. Families often accompany patients, extending the economic impact beyond the hospital bill. That creates an ecosystem rather than a single industry. But capturing that opportunity will require India to change the way it thinks about the product it is selling.

India needs to sell more than cheap treatment

The central question in Mahindra's post comes down to positioning. Does India want to be known as the place where people can get medical procedures at the lowest possible cost? Or does it want to become the country where international patients believe they will receive high-quality treatment without having to worry about everything else surrounding it?

For Mahindra, the second option is where the real opportunity lies. That would mean hospitals, hotels, airports, transport providers and other service businesses working as parts of one larger medical tourism journey. The goal would not simply be to bring a patient into a hospital and complete a procedure. It would be to make the entire experience predictable, comfortable and trustworthy.

And that, Mahindra argues, is ultimately what international patients are paying for. "Because what we're actually selling is not only procedures, but peace of mind while fixing the body," he wrote. For India, that may be the more difficult product to build. But it could also be the one with the greater long-term value.