When I recently met Nitish — the founder of a mental health startup that originally began as Consultation Over Coffee (now Inspiron) — he broke down India’s mental health landscape.
There are“everyday cases” — anxiety, stress, burnout, relationship issues, and the emotional weight of modern life. People who are largely functional but struggling internally.
The second, far deeper issues are the clinical mental health problems — severe depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, trauma disorders, and conditions that require long-term, structured treatment.
When Inspiron first started, they catered to both.
But the demand for clinical cases exploded.
So many people were coming in with serious conditions that the company had to completely reposition itself to focus only on clinical mental health.
And that’s when the scale of India’s crisis became clear.
According to global health estimates, India has fewer than one mental health professional per 100,000 people in many regions. That translates to millions of people needing care with only a tiny fraction of trained psychologists and psychiatrists available to help them.
In simple terms: the system is stretched far beyond its limits.
Nitish explained that the shortage isn’t just about education — it’s also about stigma.
Mental health is still deeply taboo in much of India. Families hide illnesses. People avoid seeking help until things become unbearable. And because of weak government support and funding, the mental healthcare industry isn’t seen as an attractive career or business opportunity.
Most people who build in this space, he said, aren’t doing it for big profits (yet).
They end up doing it out of philanthropy.
Today, Inspiron has centers across the country, helping thousands of patients who otherwise wouldn’t have access to structured mental healthcare.
Yet even with that growth, Nitish feels he’s in this industry too early.
And then there’s the next wave of pressure.
AI and automation.
As more jobs slowly disappear and roles become uncertain, stress, anxiety, and identity crises are already increasing.
In a country already struggling to meet today’s demand, the future is going to be overwhelming.
