How Much Does Therapy Cost in Pune in 2026?

Private therapy in Pune costs roughly ₹800 to ₹3,000 a session. Pune is better served publicly than most Indian cities: it holds one of Maharashtra's four regional mental hospitals, and no Pune public hospital publishes a rupee figure for an outpatient visit.

These are guiding estimates. Therapists set their own fees.

Who you see	A session, privately
Psychiatrist	the upper end, ₹2,000 and above
Clinical psychologist, experienced	₹2,000 to ₹3,000
Newly qualified psychologist or counsellor	from about ₹800
Online sessions	usually less than in person
Government hospital outpatients	a nominal registration fee

The public route in Pune

The Regional Mental Hospital at Yerawada is one of the largest psychiatric hospitals in the country, with 2,540 sanctioned beds. Maharashtra's National Health Mission publishes its catchment: twelve districts, which makes Yerawada the referral destination for a large part of western Maharashtra, not only for the city.

Sassoon General Hospital, attached to B.J. Government Medical College, publishes a seventeen-item psychiatry service list that includes a student mental health clinic. Neither publishes what a visit costs.

The free line is answered in Pune

Maharashtra runs Tele-MANAS through three cells, and one of them sits at Regional Mental Hospital Pune. When a Pune caller dials 14416, the cell answering is in their own city. The service is free, 24 hours, and available in 20 Indian languages.

What the public institutions actually publish

India's flagship public institutions publish their own patient instructions, and the figures are startling next to private fees. At NIMHANS in Bengaluru, the national mental health institute, a first visit means a screening slip costing ₹100. At AIIMS Delhi, "OPD Card costing Rs. 10/- can be purchased from main counter, OPD ground floor". Your local government hospital sets its own registration fee, and it is typically of that nominal order rather than a private one.

Why the price moves

Fees track qualification and experience. A counsellor or a newly qualified psychologist charges least; an experienced clinical psychologist more; a psychiatrist, as a medical specialist and the only one who can prescribe, the most. Two practitioners in the same city can charge very differently, so ask directly rather than assuming a market rate.

Frequency turns a session fee into a budget. Weekly therapy at ₹1,500 is ₹6,000 a month; fortnightly is half that. If cost is the constraint, say so at the first appointment. Many practices hold a small number of reduced-fee places and do not advertise them.

If you need someone now

Tele-MANAS answers free on 14416, 24 hours, through a cell based in Pune.

Connecting Trust, based in Camp, runs a distress helpline with its own published hours. The Vandrevala Foundation runs a free 24-hour national line on +91 9999 666 555, by call or WhatsApp.

Sources

• NHM Maharashtra, Mental Health Programme: Yerawada's bed count and catchment, and the Tele-MANAS cells.
• Vandrevala Foundation, Free counselling.

Reviewed August 2026. Government, university and scheme figures are quoted from those bodies' own published pages. The private band is a grounded estimate from advertised prices; we do not cite private clinics as authorities.