More grain, less protein behind India’s rising obesity

A decade ago, in March 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi first mentioned obesity in his 18th Mann Ki Baat address. Since then, Modi has spoken about the issue on at least 18 occasions, including during his last Independence Day speech.

In roughly the same time, the proportion of India’s men and women, aged between 15 and 49 years, who were overweight or obese increased by about 10 percentage points, according to the sixth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) conducted during 2023-24.

Until 2005-06, the survey collected data for men or women aged 15-49 who were ever married (including individuals who were widowed, divorced, separated or deserted). Since 2015-16, it includes all men or women aged 15-49 regardless of marital status.

Overall, 30.7 percent Indian women are now overweight or obese, the survey shows, nearly triple the proportion in 1998-99, when the survey first captured this indicator for women. Among men, 27.3 percent have a BMI of 25 or higher, again nearly triple the proportion in 2005-06, when the survey first measured the indicator for men.

The survey classifies adults with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or higher as overweight or obese. Earlier reports also included separate numbers for Indians with BMIs of 30 or higher, classified as obese, but the current factsheet for the latest survey does not separate these measures.

The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies obesity as a “chronic, relapsing disease arising from complex interactions between genetics, neurobiology, eating behaviours, access to healthy diet, market forces, and the broader environment”. Globally, 43 percent of adults are now overweight, up from 25 percent in 1990.

In 2021, higher-than-optimal BMI caused an estimated 3.7 million deaths from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, neurological disorders, chronic respiratory diseases, and digestive disorders, the WHO has noted. India’s 2025-26 Economic Survey points to unhealthy diets, sedentary lifestyles and increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods as contributing factors.

A 2020 modelling study projected that the prevalence of overweight among Indian adults could more than double and obesity could triple by 2040. By 2060, India’s economic cost of obesity is projected to rise to $839 billion, third globally after China and the United States, and amounting to 2.47 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to a 2022 report by the World Obesity Federation.

IndiaSpend has reached out to the Union health ministry for its response on the rise in overweight and obesity, measures to promote physical activity and healthy diets, and steps being taken to address obesity. This story will be updated when we receive a response.

A grain-heavy, protein-poor plate

India is among the fastest-growing markets for ultra-processed foods globally, with retail sales rising 40-fold from $900 million in 2006 to nearly $38 billion in 2019, according to the Economic Survey 2025-26. The survey noted that during the same period, obesity nearly doubled in both men and women.

Changing dietary patterns, consumption of ultra-processed foods, poor dietary diversity and inadequate intake of protein and other nutrients, along with lifestyle changes, have contributed to the increase, experts say.

A 2025 study based on the Indian Council of Medical Research - India Diabetes study, published in Nature Medicine, found that Indian diets are characterised by high intake of low-quality carbohydrates, high levels of saturated fat and low intakes of protein. Since the turn of the century, the share of beverages and processed foods increased from 4.2 percent of monthly expenditure to 9.6 percent in 2022-23, data from the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey show.

“India’s diet has become increasingly carbohydrate-heavy, dominated by grains, sugars and ultra-processed foods cooked in refined seed oils, while protein intake remains inadequate. We are overfed in calories but undernourished in nutrients,” said Mrudul Deshpande, a Pune-based functional medicine physician specialising in metabolic health and nutrition, and founder of Change & Evolve.

A 2022 study found that Indians’ consumption of industrially processed foods increased between 1990 and 2019, with overweight, obesity and type 2 diabetes expected to continue rising if these trends persist.

Another study of upper-middle and high-income adults in Delhi found that ultra-processed foods accounted for 17 percent of total energy intake, with most participants consuming less than recommended amounts of fruits, vegetables, pulses, milk and nuts.

“Nutrition is the backbone of a healthy lifestyle. Exercise, sleep and stress management all matter, but if your diet is a mess, the foundation is weak,” Deshpande told IndiaSpend. “Ultra-processed foods, overconsumption of grains, sugary drinks and industrial seed oils have gradually replaced whole, nutrient-dense foods. Most Indian plates are still grain-centric, with protein treated as a side dish instead of the main component.”

No longer just a city problem

Overweight and obesity increased in both urban and rural India. Among women, between 1998-99 and 2023-24, the proportion who are overweight or obese increased from 24 percent to 43 percent in urban areas, and 6 percent to 26 percent in rural areas. Among men, between 2005-06 and 2023-24, the share increased from 16 percent to 36 percent in urban areas and from 6 percent to 23 percent in rural areas.

A higher share of rural Indians are now overweight or obese than urban Indians were back in 2005-06. A 2020 study found that the rise in rural obesity in India is correlated with economic transformation, with urban economic growth affecting the food consumption habits of rural Indians. The study found that lack of affordability of diverse and nutritious diets increases obesity risk in rural areas.

Exercise participation also remains low across the country. Only one in 10 Indians exercised on a given day in 2024, according to the Time Use Survey by the National Statistics Office. Participation was lower in rural than urban areas, with rural women recording the lowest participation, as IndiaSpend reported in January 2026.

“Physical work alone cannot compensate for a poor metabolic diet,” Deshpande said. “Many people who do physically demanding jobs still consume cereal-dominant, carbohydrate-heavy meals with inadequate protein, leading to poor satiety, repeated insulin spikes and, over time, insulin resistance and weight gain.”

Women carry a greater burden

Women had a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity than men across most states. Nationally, 30.7 percent of women aged 15-49 had a BMI of 25 or higher in 2023-24, compared with 27.3 percent of men. The gap has persisted across every round of the National Family Health Survey.

Deshpande said women are biologically predisposed to having a higher body fat percentage than men, making good nutrition particularly important.

“Many women consume the least protein in the household while going through life stages such as pregnancy, where the risk of gestational diabetes increases, and menopause, where declining estrogen levels accelerate muscle loss,” she explained. “Combined with chronic stress, poor sleep and reduced muscle mass, these factors increase the risk of insulin resistance, weight gain and obesity.”

“Overweight, diabetes and high blood pressure are rising in much younger people,” Avinash Bhondwe, a family physician with more than four decades of practice, said. “Earlier, these conditions were more common at older ages, but today we see them even among people in their 20s and 30s. Increasing body weight and reduced physical activity are important reasons behind this change.”

Indians in white-collar jobs had higher average BMIs than those in blue-collar occupations, with lower physical activity during the workday identified as a contributing factor, as IndiaSpend reported in 2019 based on a study published in the journal Economics and Human Biology.

Among the larger states, Andhra Pradesh (48 percent), Kerala (47 percent) and Punjab (45 percent) recorded the highest prevalence of overweight or obesity among women in 2023-24, while Goa (44 percent), Andhra Pradesh (42 percent) and Tamil Nadu (39 percent) had the highest prevalence among men. A 2023 study using NFHS-5 data found that economic prosperity differences across states, rather than geography, were a marker of abdominal obesity.

Awareness and early action

Many people do not realise they have gained weight until they develop health problems, Bhondwe said. “We see that only a small proportion of people are conscious about their weight, while many come to us only after they develop diabetes, high blood pressure or other complications. By that time, losing weight becomes much more difficult than if action had been taken earlier,” he added.

Regular health check-ups and counselling could help people identify unhealthy weight gain earlier, he said. “We need much more awareness about obesity. Schools and workplaces should have regular health check-ups and counselling so people know when their weight is increasing,” Bhondwe added. “Packaged foods should also clearly mention calorie information, so people understand how many calories they are consuming and can make informed choices.”

Deshpande also stressed the importance of improving diet quality rather than focusing only on calorie intake. “We rely too much on grains, unnecessarily fear foods like eggs, meat and even whey protein, and consume far too many packaged foods marketed as healthy,” she said. “Food delivery apps have made ultra-processed foods more accessible than ever. Add to that a sedentary lifestyle and lack of regular exercise.”

“We spend too much time counting calories and too little time looking at food quality. After all, not every calorie is metabolically the same,” she added.

This report is republished with permission from IndiaSpend, a data-driven, public-interest journalism non-profit. It has been lightly edited for style and clarity.