EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In India, 300 babies are born every day with neural tube defects (NTDs), which are life-threatening developmental defects of the embryonic nervous system that can form shortly after conception. Most NTDs can be prevented by ensuring optimum blood levels of folate and vitamin B12 in women before pregnancy. However, up to three-quarters (or more) of Indian women, from early childhood, subsist on an insufficient dietary intake of folate and vitamin B12. These two vitamins work in