How Much Does Therapy Cost in India in 2026?

Indian mental health providers rarely publish their fees, so most cost guides quote numbers no source will stand behind. What is actually published is worth more: the national institute's own ₹100 registration fee, AIIMS Delhi's ₹10 OPD card, a free 24/7 national helpline, one practice's full published schedule, and a law that guarantees both access to public care and insurance cover for mental illness.

These are guiding estimates. Therapists set their own fees.

Across India, advertised private sessions commonly run from around ₹800 with a newly qualified psychologist to ₹3,000 or more with an experienced specialist, and online sessions usually cost less than seeing someone in person. Those advertised ranges come from blogs and market guides, not official authoritative sources. Use with caution. The published figures below are harder ground.

What the law guarantees

The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 gives every person a right to access mental healthcare run or funded by the government: services are to be available at all government-run or funded general hospitals, and basic and emergency mental healthcare at all community health centres and upwards in the public health system. That is the legal floor under the public route in every state.

The same Act settles the insurance question in one sentence: "Every insurer shall make provision for medical insurance for treatment of mental illness on the same basis as is available for treatment of physical illness." If you hold health insurance, mental health cover is not a favour; parity is the statute. Ask your insurer what your policy covers before assuming therapy is out of pocket.

The flagship institutions' own fees

The clearest published public-sector prices in India are the flagship institutions' own patient instructions. NIMHANS in Bengaluru, the national institute: "get a screening slip made [pay Rs.100.00]", with OPD registration between 8.00 am and 11.30 am, Monday to Saturday. AIIMS Delhi: "An OPD card costing Rs. 10/- can be purchased from the main counter on the OPD ground floor." Government psychiatric OPDs across the states work on the same pattern: a nominal registration fee, then assessment and treatment inside the public system.

Free national help: Tele-MANAS

The health ministry's Tele-MANAS programme is a toll-free helpline (14416) available nationwide, offering "24/7, free mental health support": telephone-based counselling, psychotherapy and psychiatric consultation, in regional languages. For many people it is the fastest free first step, and it can route you onward into local services.

What private care actually publishes

One Kolkata practice publishes its full consultation schedule, rare enough in India to be worth quoting as a calibration point rather than a market rate: counselling at ₹500 a session, counselling with CBT at ₹600 to ₹700, and specialised child, adult and couples work at ₹1,000 to ₹1,500 an hour. Two practitioners in the same city may charge very differently; treat this as proof that modest published fees exist, and ask any practice directly for theirs. Online platforms advertise entry prices below the in-person market, but none we checked states a fixed price on its own pages, so we do not quote them.

If you need someone now

Call Tele-MANAS on 14416, free, at any hour, in regional languages. In immediate danger, go to the nearest government hospital emergency department.

Sources

• The Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 (Act No. 10 of 2017), India Code: the right to access government mental health services (section 18) and the insurance-parity provision quoted verbatim (section 21). Read from the official Act text.
• NIMHANS, psychiatry OPD patient instructions: the ₹100 screening slip and OPD hours. Read 28 July 2026.
• AIIMS Delhi, OPD information: the ₹10 OPD card. Read 28 July 2026.
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Tele-MANAS: the toll-free 14416 number and the free 24/7 scope, in the ministry's own words.
• The Kolkata practice's published consultation fees: the full schedule quoted above. Read at source.

Reviewed July 2026. The statutory provisions are quoted from the official Act text; institutional fees are the institutions' own published patient instructions; Tele-MANAS facts are the issuing ministry's own words. The advertised private ranges are labelled to their non-official origin, and we print no figure a source does not charge.