₹2,000 per capita, India’s public health expenditure remains one of the lowest among major economies in the world. Even a pandemic of the scale of covid has not moved the needle much.
India’s annual health budget has stayed barely above 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) for the past decade. In fiscal year 2019-20, it was ₹2.57 trillion, or 1.3% of GDP.
This ratio compares unfavourably even with emerging market peers such as Indonesia (1.4%), China (2.9%), Russia (3.2%) and South Africa (3.6%).
It is hardly surprising therefore that in 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) ranked India 57th out of 195 countries on its Global Health Security Index, pointing out weak spots in India’s health preparedness.