Professors Susan Sawyer and George Patton were recently in India as invited speakers on Adolescent Health and Medicine at the 2011 Winter Symposium at Vellore Christian Medical Centre, Tamil Nadu, one of India’s leading medical colleges. They were also involved in leading a day’s symposium in Adolescent Medicine in Bangalore, convened by the Department of Paediatrics at St John’s Medical College, Bangalore. With rapidly declining mortality in the under 5 population, the health and well being of young people is now very much on the health agenda in India, with high rates of mental disorder and suicide being but some of the health issues affecting Indian youth. The country faces a major challenge about how best to respond in terms of both clinical services and prevention, given that there were 195 million 15-24 yr olds in 2001, which is predicted to increase to 240 million in 2011.