Determinants of Mental Health among Youth in India

Youth mental health in India is at once a human rights necessity, a public health emergency, and a strategic management challenge. The potential revolutionary advantage of India's large youth population, known as the "demographic dividend," depends on the mental health of those youth in their families, communities, businesses, and educational institutions. However, the evidence examined in this study shows a significant treatment gap, deeply ingrained stigma, insufficient organizational responses, and systemic policy failures that cumulatively deprive most young Indians of the mental health care they require. In this crisis, the management sector has special clout. Young people spend a significant amount of their formative years in organizations, both corporate and educational, where the working and learning environments either support or compromise psychological well-being. Organizations may significantly reduce the gap between need and provision for young employees and students by making strategic investments in EAPs, mentally healthy HR policies, leadership development, anti-stigma cultures, digital mental health technologies, and evidence-based interventions. This calls for a paradigm change, whereby young mental health is acknowledged as a strategic goal at the organizational core rather than as a welfare issue on the organization's perimeter. This argument has already been presented at the national policy level in India's Economic Survey 2024–2025. It is now up to management academics, HR professionals, educational administrators, and organizational leaders to turn this understanding into tangible, long-term, and assessed action. The data is unambiguous: investing in the mental health of India's youth is not an expense; rather, it is the most significant investment that Indian companies can make in their own and their nation's future.

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