Premature deaths from surging rates of heart disease in India are forecast to lead to losses of 18m productive man years by 2030, acting as a drag on the country’s aspirations for rapid economic growth, public health experts warned at the World Economic Forum’s India meeting on Sunday.

K. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, said India would loose an estimate $236bn as a result heart disease, diabetes and cancer among its 1bn people between 2006 and 2015