Introduction: Microcytic hypochromic anaemia is prevalent in India. Beta thalassemia and iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) is one of the important causes of microcytic hypochromic anaemia. HighPerformance Liquid Chromatography Chromatography (HPLC) is currently the gold standard in diagnosing hemoglobinopathies which are only available in certain advanced laboratories. It is important to develop easily examined parameters that are useful to help in the diagnosis of thalassemia traits. In a resource-poor country, like India, HPLC may not be widely available, Mentzer’s index can be used to differentiate IDA and thalassemia.