How to set consultation fees for a clinic in India Working out the number, deciding what it covers, and the rules on announcing and displaying it.

A private clinic in India sets its own consultation fee: there is no government fee schedule for private OPD consultations, so the doctor or clinic works out a figure from its own costs, patient numbers and what the consultation includes. The rules then govern how that fee is handled: it must be announced before the consultation, displayed for patients where clinical establishment law applies, stated plainly without discounts or offers used to attract patients, never split with whoever referred the patient, and it is exempt from GST.

This post does not give fee figures for any city or specialty. We found no official source for them, and a number we invented would mislead you. What it gives is a way to work out your own.

Does the government fix consultation fees for private clinics?

Not today, as far as the national rules go. Rule 9(ii) of the Clinical Establishments (Central Government) Rules, 2012 says clinics "shall charge the rates for each type of procedures and services within the range of rates determined and issued by the Central Government from time to time, in consultation with the State Governments". At its 6th meeting on 8 December 2014, the National Council for Clinical Establishments recommended that "the Doctors' Fee in the private hospital including corporate hospital may not be fixed by Government at this stage and the private / corporate sector may be allowed to decide their own rates and display the same accordingly. Single Doctor Clinic/Polyclinic incharge should likewise display its own rates."

States with their own clinical establishment laws can set their own terms. Ask your district registering authority whether anything applies to your clinic. Which law covers your state is in our Clinical Establishments Act states list.

How do you work out what your consultation fee should be?

Start from what a session costs to run and how many patients it actually sees, then compare with what patients nearby are already paying. The first two come from your own books and register; the third from the rate boards and fee notices of clinics around you, where they display them.

The cost-per-consultation line is a floor, not the answer. If it is close to or above what nearby clinics charge, the problem is usually in the denominator (too few patients per session, too many free reviews) rather than the fee. Our posts on the cost of opening a clinic and daily reports for a clinic owner help fill in the first lines.

What should one consultation fee cover?

Decide it once and write it down, because most fee disputes at the counter are about this, not the amount. The common choices:

• One visit only. Every visit is charged.
• One visit plus a review within a fixed number of days for the same complaint, free or at a lower fee. Say how many days, and whether a report-showing visit counts.
• A separate, lower follow-up fee after the review window.
• Procedures (dressing, injection, nebulisation) charged separately, each with its own line on the board.

Whatever you choose, put the window on the board, print the follow-up date on the prescription, and set it the same way in your software, so the desk does not decide case by case.

Can different doctors and different visits have different fees?

Yes. A clinic can charge one fee for a general physician and another for a specialist, a different fee for a visiting consultant, and a separate rate for after-hours or home visits, as long as each one is displayed and announced before the consultation. For teleconsultation, paragraph 3.7.3.1 of the Telemedicine Practice Guidelines 2020 says such consultations "should be treated the same way as in-person consultations from a fee perspective" and the doctor "may charge an appropriate fee"; 3.7.3.2 asks for a receipt or invoice. Running several doctors' fees at one desk is covered in how to run a multi-doctor OPD queue.

What do the NMC rules say about consultation fees?

Four rules, from the 2002 conduct regulations and the NMC's guidelines of 6 October 2026:

Regulation 1.4.1 adds that the doctor's registration number goes on every money receipt. Our NMC advertising guidelines summary covers the rest of the 2026 notice.

Can a clinic reduce or waive a fee for a patient?

Section 8.1(x) of the 2026 guidelines is aimed at inducements used to attract patients, not at a doctor's decision to reduce the fee for a patient who cannot pay. Keep the two apart: do not advertise concessions, and record each one at the desk with the amount, the reason and who approved it, so the day's collection still matches the visit list. Our guide to closing the day covers how to record waivers.

Where and how must the fee be displayed?

Where the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010 applies with the central rules, rule 9(i) of the 2012 rules makes it a condition of registration that "every clinical Establishment shall display the rates charged for each type of service provided and facilities available, for the benefit of the patients at a conspicuous place in the local as well as in english language". States with their own laws have their own wording. Karnataka's Private Medical Establishments Act, 2007, section 10, asks clinics to "display consultation fee, rates of major and largely used investigations, procedures, treatments and other services" on the notice board at reception, and says that if the charges notified in different places differ, "the least amount shall be considered to be effective".

Write the rupee figure, the doctor's name, what the fee covers and the date it took effect, in English and the local language. A sample board and the full display rules are in signboard and fee display rules.

How should a clinic change its fee?

1. Decide the new fee and the date it starts, and whether it applies to reviews of visits made before that date.
2. Update every place the fee appears on the same day: the board, any printed brochure, the clinic's website or listing, and the software's default fee. In Karnataka, an old rate left anywhere can bind you, because the least amount is the effective one.
3. Tell patients with a factual notice: new fee, from which date. Section 9.3 of the NMC guidelines allows a formal announcement of consultation fees; keep offers out of it.
4. Brief the desk on what to say to patients who were charged the old fee last time.

Does a clinic charge GST on the consultation fee?

No. Entry 74 of Notification No. 12/2017-Central Tax (Rate) exempts "health care services by a clinical establishment, an authorised medical practitioner or para-medics". The notification defines health care services as "any service by way of diagnosis or treatment or care for illness, injury, deformity, abnormality or pregnancy in any recognised system of medicines in India", excluding hair transplant and cosmetic or plastic surgery except to restore or reconstruct after congenital defects, developmental abnormalities, injury or trauma. Goods sold at the counter and some other services are a different matter; see GST on doctor consultation fees and ask your CA.