Aim and background: To determine the factors that affect outcome in hospitalized patients of hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional observational study aimed at correlating the presenting patient profile with outcome in patients of chronic liver disease (CLD) HE; with 131 participants over 18 months. The primary outcome was mortality, and the secondary outcome was duration of hospital stay in surviving patients. Results: Hypoglycemia, hypoxia, abnormal total leukocyte count (TLC), %Neutrophils, S. Sodium, S. Chloride, S. Urea, S. Creatinine and aspartate transaminase (AST) levels, MELD-Na score, and the number of precipitating factors were associated with higher mortality (at p ≤ 0.05). A prognostic index was calculated from seven parameters to predict mortality (area under curve AUC = 80.2%, sensitivity = 84.1%, specificity = 72.4% at cut-off 42). The mean duration of hospital stay was 4.3 (±4.5) days in patients who expired and 9.0 (±9.6) days in patients who recovered (p ≤ 0.05). Approximately 81.8 and 90.9% of deaths occurred within the first 3 and 10 days of admission, respectively. Conclusion: The study identified readily available lab parameters that can be used to detect patients at high risk of mortality during hospitalization for HE. A prognostic score calculable from these parameters has also been proposed. Most of the deaths were found to occur during the initial days of hospital stay. Clinical significance: The presentation and prognostic factors were different from those reported in Western literature. The identification of prognostic factors, and a high-risk early hospitalization period will help in the early detection and aggressive management of at-risk patients.