This study focuses on the effects of fear factor due to COVID-19 on stress and well-being of college students in India. The authors conducted a cross-sectional survey among 625 Indian students across various Indian universities and structural equation modeling (SEM) has been performed for analyzing the data. The findings of the study show a positive effect of fear of COVID-19 on stress with β = .27, p < 0.05, and a negative effect on well-being (β = −.13, p < 0.05). The results also depicted the mediating role of stress between fear of COVID-19 and well-being. Therefore, it is suggested that measures must be taken by individuals, society, and policy makers to include mental health maintenance in the pandemic response activities. Further longitudinal studies in different geographical regions and demographics can provide a more generalized understanding of the relationship between the pandemic and mental health. The limitations, policy implications, and suggestions are discussed.Keywords The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has raised numerous concerns in public health (Heymann & Shindo, 2020) in recent times. Besides fear of infection, mental health concerns among the public have also increased all over the world (Holmes et al., 2020). The COVID-19 scenario has resulted in an increased level of psychiatric issues such as stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, insomnia, denial, anger, fear and, in the worst case, suicide (Torales et al., 2020).