India surpassed China and became the most populated country recently. The population of India is expected to further grow for several decades before it stabilizes. The recent past has shown remarkable improvements in socio-economic development indicators for India, yet, they are far from satisfactory levels. India’s health care service provisions, particularly in the public sector, continues to face challenges in terms of both access and quality. India is one of the few countries where gender plays a vital role for one’s socio-economic and health outcomes. Thus, India’s overall achievement in improving the health of its people is certainly laudable; however, it becomes essential to learn whether these benefits are shared equally across population subgroups. Between 1950 and 2020, India’s population grew from 357 million to 1396 million; a nearly 300% rise in 7-decades, with an increase from a total of 15.7 million to 23.1 million annual live births during the same time. The childhood mortality has reduced substantially: infant mortality rate reduced substantially from 181.2 in 1950 to 26.6 per 1000 live births in 2020, and the under-5 mortality rate, reduced from around 300 in 1950 to 32.6 per 1000 live births in 2020. In 1950, a newborn in India, on an average, lived 41.7 years which rose to 70.2 years in 2020. Along with this progress in mortality reductions, household’s living conditions and other socio-economic development indicators have also shown laudable improvements; 95% of the households in 2019–21 have access to improved source of drinking water and 69% had access to basic sanitation services. Women’s literacy rate increased from only 2 in every 5 women aged 15–49 literate in 1992–93 to 4 in every 5 women in 2019–21 and total fertility rate declined from 3.4 children per women to 2.0 during the same period. Over 85% of the mothers received antenatal care from a skilled provider(s) in 2019–21, substantial increase from 50% in 1992–93. The institutional delivery increased from about one-quarter in 1992–93 to 89% in 2019–21. Early initiation of breastfeeding has risen more than four-folds and exclusive breastfeeding has risen by one and a half times and at the same time, the coverage of full immunization has increased to more than three-quarters in 2019–21. There has been consistent improvement in the mortality indicator as well as socio-economic and health care utilization, however, gender differential is persistent, mostly to the disadvantage of female children, and this is regardless of time period.