From Silence to Signal: India Inc.'s Mental Wellness Reckoning, 2023 to 2026

Key findings

• Mental wellness counselling sessions across ekincare's corporate base grew 44% between 2023 and 2025, with +34% in 2025 alone.

  January to April 2026 is on a run-rate to match or exceed 2025.

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• Sessions among employees aged 20 to 25 grew 203% from 2023 to 2026, about 11 times the growth of the 31 to 35 cohort (18%).

  Gen Z is the first Indian workforce cohort for whom counselling is a tool, not a confession.

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• BFSI posted the fastest growth of any sector: +408% in counselling sessions from 2023 to 2025.

  Healthcare and pharma followed at +122%. IT and software, historically the leader, grew 11%.

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• 26.6% of employees who book a counselling session never attend one.

  ekincare calls this the stigma tax. Most EAP vendors report utilisation and completion rates, but rarely ghost rates.

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• 35% of counselling sessions now fall in clinical territory: anxiety, depression, mood and behavioural issues.

  Corporate EAPs are functioning as primary mental healthcare, not as a wellness perk.

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• 12% of users sustain five or more sessions, clustered around grief, divorce and mood disorders.

  Single-session EAP models under-serve the employees with the highest need.

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