Introduction: India’s Pet Growth Is Creating a Veterinary Healthcare Question
India’s pet population has grown substantially over the past decade, and with it, the range of veterinary services pet owners now expect: routine vaccination, diagnostics, surgery, dermatology, and emergency care. Whether the country’s veterinary infrastructure, hospitals, clinics, diagnostic labs, specialists, and the workforce behind them, has kept pace with that shift is a more complicated question than pet population figures alone can answer.
A Growing Pet Population, Growing Healthcare Demand
Estimates of India’s companion animal population vary depending on the source and methodology used, and it is worth distinguishing between them rather than treating any single figure as definitive. Industry market research firm IMARC Group estimates India’s pet population grew from roughly 26 million in 2019 to approximately 42 million in 2024, with dogs accounting for more than 36.8 million of that total, and projects growth to approximately 51 million by 2028 (IMARC Group, “India Animal Health Market,” 2026). A separate industry report from Ken Research cites a companion animal population of approximately 32 million, published in 2025 (Ken Research, “India Animal Health and Veterinary Care Market,” 2026). Statista’s tracked data on pet cats specifically shows growth from an estimated 1.84 million in 2019 to roughly 4.07 million by 2024, with a forecast of 5.75 million by 2028 (Statista, 2025).
These figures come from industry and market-research sources rather than an official government census of companion animals; India’s Livestock Census, a quinquennial exercise conducted by the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), does count dogs among 16 enumerated species but is structured primarily around livestock and agricultural planning rather than companion-animal market tracking (DAHD, “Animal Husbandry Statistics”). Despite differing exact figures, all sources agree on a clear directional trend: a rising, urban-concentrated pet population is driving demand for preventive care, diagnostics, surgery, and increasingly, specialist and emergency veterinary services that a purely livestock-oriented veterinary system was not originally built around.
Is Veterinary Infrastructure Keeping Pace?
On raw infrastructure numbers, India’s veterinary network is large. According to Ken Research, India had 67,889 veterinary institutions as of March 2024, comprising 13,173 hospitals or polyclinics, 30,184 dispensaries, and 24,532 aid centres (Ken Research, 2026). This is a substantial national network by count.
However, this figure describes the overall veterinary institutional base, which serves livestock, poultry, and companion animals together, and does not indicate how many of these facilities are equipped for companion-animal-specific services such as advanced diagnostics, surgical suites, oncology, or emergency intensive care. Reliable, comprehensive national data specifically quantifying companion-animal-dedicated hospital capacity, diagnostic equipment availability, or emergency care facilities was not identified during this research, and should not be assumed from the overall institutional count alone. What is documented is a broader capacity concern: Ken Research’s analysis notes that supply and service capacity remains concentrated around western, southern and northern pharmaceutical, dairy, poultry and urban pet-care clusters, implying uneven distribution rather than uniform national capacity (Ken Research, 2026).
Where Access Remains Uneven
Documented evidence points consistently toward a rural-urban divide in veterinary access, though the precision of available data varies. Ken Research’s market analysis states that only about 30% of India’s rural areas have adequate access to veterinary infrastructure, citing this as a specific growth constraint despite rising pet ownership and livestock farming (Ken Research, 2026). This figure describes infrastructure access broadly rather than companion-animal services specifically.
Further evidence of geographic disparity comes from a NITI Aayog-commissioned report, “Telemedicine for Livestock Health and Safety: Framework and Guidelines” (2023), which includes a documented “state-wise gap of veterinary institutions” analysis for the year 2020, alongside rural tele-density data used to assess where remote veterinary consultation could help close access gaps (NITI Aayog, 2023). While this report’s primary focus is livestock rather than companion animals, its underlying finding, that veterinary institutional density varies meaningfully by state, is directly relevant to companion-animal access in Tier-2 cities and smaller towns, where dedicated small-animal veterinary infrastructure is generally less developed than in metropolitan centres. Reliable, India-wide data specifically comparing companion-animal veterinary access across metro, Tier-2, and rural categories was not identified during this research; the evidence available points to disparity in overall veterinary infrastructure rather than a precisely quantified companion-animal-specific gap.
Workforce and Affordability
Veterinary practice in India is regulated by the Veterinary Council of India (VCI), a statutory body established under the Indian Veterinary Council Act, 1984, which maintains the Indian Veterinary Practitioners’ Register recording individuals holding recognised veterinary qualifications enrolled on a State Veterinary Register (VCI; Wikipedia, “Veterinary Council of India”). It is important not to treat this registration figure as a direct measure of companion-animal veterinary capacity: registered veterinarians span livestock, poultry, dairy, and companion-animal practice, and a comprehensive, publicly available breakdown of how many registered veterinarians work primarily in small-animal or companion-animal care was not identified during this research. This distinction matters because a large national registration count does not, on its own, indicate whether enough veterinarians are actually available for dog and cat care specifically, particularly outside major cities.
On cost, available evidence does not support a claim that veterinary care in India is universally unaffordable, but it does show that costs rise meaningfully with the complexity of care required. Diagnostic testing, surgical procedures, and specialist consultations (dermatology, oncology, or advanced imaging) carry higher costs than routine vaccination or deworming, and these costs are generally more available in metropolitan private veterinary networks than in smaller towns, based on the geographic infrastructure concentration already documented above. Comprehensive nationwide data comparing companion-animal veterinary treatment costs across cities was not identified during this research.
How the Veterinary Sector Is Responding
Several documented developments indicate movement toward addressing these gaps, distinct from future recommendations. The animal health market itself is expanding: India’s animal health market was valued at INR 92.62 billion in 2025, with a projected compound annual growth rate of 7.11% through 2034 (IMARC Group, 2026), reflecting expanding private investment in veterinary products and services, including companion-animal-focused diagnostics and treatment.
On the policy side, NITI Aayog’s 2023 telemedicine framework, developed with an expert committee including DAHD’s former Animal Husbandry Commissioner and representatives from ICAR and the Pet Animal Welfare Society, establishes formal guidelines for veterinary telemedicine, including protocols for patient identification, consent, and remote consultation (NITI Aayog, 2023). While this framework centres on livestock health, its existence signals institutional recognition that remote veterinary access, including tele-veterinary services relevant to companion animals, is being formally considered as an access solution rather than left purely to private-sector initiative.
Beyond these two documented developments, credible sources referenced in this research also point toward growing private veterinary hospital networks and diagnostic centres concentrated in metropolitan and Tier-1 markets, consistent with the geographic concentration pattern noted earlier. Experts and institutional reports reviewed for this article suggest, as a forward-looking recommendation rather than a completed development, that closing India’s veterinary access gap will likely require expanding tele-veterinary infrastructure beyond livestock use cases, greater transparency in specialist and diagnostic availability by region, and closer tracking of how many veterinary professionals actually serve companion-animal patients specifically, a distinction current national data does not clearly capture.
Conclusion: Building Veterinary Capacity Alongside the Pet Economy
India’s veterinary institutional network is large in absolute terms, but the available evidence suggests that scale has not been evenly matched by companion-animal-specific capacity, particularly in diagnostics, specialist care, and emergency services outside major metropolitan clusters. Much of the data required to fully answer questions of access and affordability at a national, companion-animal-specific level simply does not yet exist in a consolidated, verifiable form, a gap that itself points toward what India’s veterinary sector, and its data infrastructure, may need to prioritise next.
Source: Ken Research, NITI Aayog, Wikipedia
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