Apollo Health and Lifestyle to invest Rs 500 cr in expansion

It plans to increase multi-speciality and diabetes clinics to 150 each from 72 and 42 currently

Apollo Health and Lifestyle (AHLL) will invest Rs 500 crore in the next five years to expand its core businesses across the country. It is creating innovative clinics to provide primary healthcare in alternative ways by using telemedicine and medical services on mobile app under customised treatment platforms.

The subsidiary of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise has five primary care formats -- Apollo Clinics, Apollo Sugar, Apollo Diagnostics, Apollo White and Apollo Dialysis. It has rapid expansion plans to increase the number of multi-speciality clinics and diabetes clinics to 150 each in the coming three years from the current 72 and 42 respectively.

According to AHLL chief executive officer Neeraj Garg, the company may invest Rs 2-2.5 crore to set up a multi-speciality clinic, and Rs 1.5-2 crore for a standalone diabetes clinic in leased premises.

Apollo Sugar is also partnering with other private hospitals, where the investment would be Rs 25-50 lakh. It has already tied up with one hospital in Vijayawada, and going to add ten more hospitals in southern and western parts of the country within one year.

AHLL is planning to spread Apollo Diagnostic centres to northern and western parts of the country over the next three years. The number of centres has gone up from 18 to 42 in last year, and it will further grow to 70 by the end of next year by expanding into West Bengal, Orissa, Assam and other states.

The Hyderabad-based company is going to open Apollo Cradle in Amritsar next month with an investment of Rs 20 crore. This is a women and children hospital along with fertility clinic. So far, there are a dozen centres in five cities. It is planning to have 20 hospitals in specific cities by 2020.

Last December, AHLL has raised around Rs 450 crore from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) by selling 29 per cent stake in the company. "With these funds, we can meet our expansion needs for next 2-3 years. We may think about further fund raising only after three years," Garg said.

At present, AHLL has 72 Apollo White dental hospitals, 12 Apollo Spectra surgical hospitals and six Apollo Dialysis centres in the country. The company is looking for collaboration with government to expand dialysis centers through public private participation model, according to Garg. AHLL is expecting to reach breakeven in 12-24 months. It has set a target to achieve revenues of Rs 1,000 crore in three years, from Rs 450 crore in this fiscal.