Smartwatches, Bands & Rings: India Is Wearing Its Health. Are We Reading It Right?

Last Updated:April 13, 2026, 08:00 IST

Health wearables have surged in India, guiding lifestyle changes and early hospital visits. Doctors said quality devices are as useful but warned they cannot replace diagnosis

Patients are walking into consultations with data – smartwatch ECGs, SpO2 readings, HRV trends. (Image for representation)

A 40-year-old communication professional, Jatin Khattar did not walk into a doctor’s clinic because he felt unwell. He walked in because his watch told him something was off, and he chose to listen.

Like many young professionals, Jatin had been wearing a fitness device – a ring – for months – mostly to track his workouts and monitor gym performance.

But over time, he began paying closer attention to a different set of numbers. His heart rate variability (HRV) was consistently dropping. His recovery scores were poor, his breathing rate elevated on days he had pushed hard or slept badly. His body, it turned out, was telling him a story he had not been reading.

The device did not just change how Jatin trained. It changed how he lived – from his morning workout to the way he wound down at night. What he ate, how much he slept, when he pushed and when he pulled back. All of it informed by data that had been sitting on his wrist all along.

It is not just gym-goers and corporate professionals. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been spotted wearing multiple health monitoring devices, including a band and smart watch – perhaps the most visible reminder that this technology is entering every walk of life.

WHAT ARE THESE DEVICES ACTUALLY DOING?

India is one of the largest wearables markets in the world. According to IDC India, more than 119 million devices were sold in the country in 2024 alone – with consumers increasingly shifting from basic fitness trackers to advanced health-monitoring devices.

The category includes smartwatches that track ECG and blood oxygen, continuous glucose monitors that read blood sugar in real time without a finger prick, smart rings that monitor sleep and body temperature through the night, and wearable ECG patches used under medical guidance for continuous heart rhythm monitoring.

Each device serves a different purpose and each generates a different kind of data. Understanding what that data means is the first step to using it wisely.

Heart rate – the most basic metric – is measured through a technology called photoplethysmography, or PPG. Light is shone through the skin to detect blood flow and count beats: reliable at rest, less precise during intense movement.

Heart rate variability (HRV) is subtler and more powerful. It measures the variation in time between consecutive heartbeats. A higher HRV signals a well-recovered, low-stress body. A consistently dropping HRV – over days, not just one night – is your body signalling that something is off. Poor sleep, illness, overtraining, sustained stress – all of it shows up here first.

SpO2, or blood oxygen saturation, measures what percentage of your blood is carrying oxygen. A healthy reading sits between 95 and 100 percent. Your wearable measures this the same way a hospital pulse oximeter does – using red and infrared light. One important caveat for Indian users: studies have shown that SpO2 sensors can be less accurate on darker skin tones.

Sleep tracking uses a combination of movement, heart rate, and HRV data to estimate sleep stages – light, deep, and REM (rapid eye movement). It is not a clinical sleep study, but patterns observed over weeks can be genuinely revealing.

Breathing rate and skin temperature round out the picture – both capable of flagging early signs of illness, sometimes before any symptom appears.

WHAT ARE DOCTORS SEEING?

Dr Naresh Trehan, chairman of Medanta and well-known cardiac surgeon, sees a shift. Patients are walking into consultations with data – smartwatch ECGs, SpO2 readings, HRV trends.

For a cardiac surgeon who has spent decades watching India’s disease burden grow younger and more lifestyle-driven, this is a meaningful development. But he is clear: wearable data is a screening tool.

“It is not a diagnosis. And the quality of the device matters enormously,” Dr Trehan said. “It is beneficial to use these devices but quality devices. If you are wearing a worthy brand, data will make sense clinically.”

That point was echoed at the emergency department.

At Fortis Hospital in Gurugram, Dr Mohammad Nadeem, who is the head of emergency medicine, recalled a young woman who arrived at midnight – not because she was in pain, but because her device had flagged a heart rate exceeding normal limits.

“She came with a heart rate of 200. She was feeling uncomfortable palpitations. She had come in. And that decision mattered,” Dr Nadeem said while explaining that she was given a shock to rectify that irregular heart beat.

He described this as a growing and welcome trend – patients arriving earlier, more informed, with data in hand rather than waiting for symptoms to become unbearable. But he is equally clear about the caveat: the value of that alert is only as good as the device generating it.

“A cheap, unvalidated device can miss a real cardiac event – or send someone into unnecessary panic over a reading that means nothing,” he said, issuing a warning.

For India’s diabetic and pre-diabetic population, the stakes are even higher.

Dr Ambrish Mithal, one of India’s leading endocrinologists and chairman of endocrinology at Max Hospitals, pointed to continuous glucose monitors as a genuine game-changer – giving patients real-time visibility into how food, sleep, stress, and activity affect their blood sugar.

India has over 100 million diabetics and an even larger population that does not yet know it is at risk. A device that continuously tracks glucose patterns – without a single finger prick – could be the difference between catching metabolic risk early and missing it entirely.

BEFORE YOU BUY?

The wearables market in India is one of the largest in the world, and it is flooded with options at every price point. Before you make a purchase, here is what is worth asking.

Accuracy

Is the device clinically validated?

Has it been tested against hospital-grade equipment? This is not information most packaging volunteers – so research before you buy.

Features

Do you actually need ECG and SpO2 monitoring – or is basic heart rate and sleep tracking sufficient for your needs?

Battery Life And Comfort

Will you consistently wear it? A device you take off every two days because the battery is dead or the fit is uncomfortable will not give you the continuous data that makes wearables valuable. Remember, you need to wear a device even when you go to sleep or swim.

After-Sales Support

In a market full of cheap, you need to look for quality brands who take responsibility for your health data.

WHAT IS THE BOTTOM LINE?

A device on your wrist cannot replace your doctor, but it can get you to your doctor earlier. It can change how you eat, how you move, how you sleep, and can catch what years of ignored symptoms never would.

The wearables revolution is not really about technology. It is about attention. Finally paying attention to a body that has been quietly signalling all along.

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