The WHO has put the number of persons with diabetes worldwide at approximately 170 million. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus has risen dramatically over the past 20 years, and the number of people with diabetes is expected to reach 366 million by 2025. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus is expected to grow even more rapidly in the future. There is also considerable geographic variation in the incidence of T2DM, and countries like India are fast emerging as ''diabetes hot spots". About 5-10% of the total health care budget has been used for T2DM in many countries.