India, Aug. 10 -- image credit- freepik

India has committed to reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCD) by one-third by 2030, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Meeting that target requires diagnostic and treatment capacity that the public system alone has struggled to build.

As per the FY26 annual and ESG reports of the country's five largest banks suggests corporate social responsibility funding is beginning to move into that gap.

The pattern is consistent across ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Healthcare is a named CSR focus area at all five, and the money is going into equipment, hospital blocks and institutional capacity rather than the screeni...