Lyfskills study maps India's fitness and activity sector

BENGALURU, Karnataka, India, April 30, 2026 - India's offline fitness and activity sector, including gyms, sports academies, performing arts schools and creative learning centres, is among the country's largest consumer-service segments, yet remains one of its least mapped. Unlike organised retail or food services, the coaching and activity space has operated without consolidated data on its size, geographic spread or competitive structure.

A data study by Lyfskills addresses that gap by mapping 26,582 verified centres across India's three largest metro regions and their satellite cities. The analysis covers Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, spanning 34 activity categories and 2.9 million Google reviews.

"When we started the study, we wished to understand the sector across urban centres. What stands out is how individual-operator-driven the sector remains and how sharply supply density varies," said Sumit, Founder of Lyfskills.

Delhi leads by volume, while Bengaluru is the most densely served

Delhi has the highest number of activity centres at 7,591, followed by Bengaluru with 6,471 and Mumbai with 4,649. Gurugram has 2,353 centres, Noida 1,486, Ghaziabad 1,444, Thane 1,052, Navi Mumbai 869 and Faridabad 667. Together, the five NCR cities account for 13,541 centres, more than half of the dataset.

The order changes when the number of centres is compared with official city area. Bengaluru leads with 8.7 centres per square kilometre, followed by Mumbai at 7.7 and Thane at 7.2. Delhi records 5.1 centres per square kilometre because of its larger geographic footprint, while Gurugram, at 3.2, is the most sparsely served of the nine cities.

Fitness dominates, while niche categories emerge

Gyms and fitness centres form the largest category with 7,729 listings. Dance follows with 3,201, yoga with 3,032, music with 2,468, cricket with 1,679, and art and craft with 1,660.

Newer categories are also gaining ground. The study identified 426 coding and robotics centres, 333 gymnastics academies and 309 chess clubs. It also mapped smaller specialist categories, including 72 horse-riding academies, 17 shooting ranges and four archery clubs.

Each metro shows a distinct activity mix. Badminton in Bengaluru indexes at 1.92 times the cross-city baseline, while basketball and skating are also over-represented. Cricket leads in Delhi and its satellite cities. In Mumbai, theatre and drama index at 1.86 times the baseline, alongside relatively strong representation for gymnastics and football.

Independent operators account for 96.4 percent of centres

Of the 26,582 centres mapped, 96.4 percent are standalone, independently operated businesses. Only 954 centres, or 3.6 percent, are associated with a recognised brand or chain across 97 brand names. Just 13 brands operate in all three metro regions.

Football shows the highest level of chain affiliation at 17.7 percent, supported by franchised programmes. Martial arts, badminton, swimming and yoga show more moderate brand presence.

Ratings require context

Across the dataset, 80 percent of centres have a Google rating of 4.5 stars or higher, and 35 percent hold a perfect 5.0. However, 39 percent of the 9,384 centres with a perfect score have 10 or fewer reviews. Only 20 percent of 5.0-rated centres have more than 50 reviews, limiting the reliability of star ratings as a standalone decision-making signal.

Reviews of highly rated centres most often praise trainer quality, coaching approach and personal attention. Complaints among centres rated below 4.0 tend to focus on cleanliness, equipment condition and court availability.

Methodology

The dataset covers verified, non-duplicate listings across nine cities. Lyfskills studied digital footprints across business listings, websites and social profiles, then applied a multi-tier quality process using deterministic rules and category validation. Brand and chain identification was based on name matching, domain clustering and branch-location data. Density was calculated using the official municipal or authority area for each city. The data is current as of April 2026.

The study underpins Lyfskills Discover, an activities discovery platform operated by Lyfskills. Lyfskills also operates Lynk.Coach, a coaching-management platform for gyms and activity centres.