Image lines up Rs 175crore

Hyderabad-based Image Group, which has interests in healthcare, construction and finance sectors, is lining up over Rs 175-crore investments to expand its network of hospitals and to diversify into the hospitality sector.

The investments would be used to set up hospitals in Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad, and a three-star hotel and a couple of budget hotels in the city in the next two years.

"The proposed hospitals at Bangalore and Delhi will have a bed capacity of 150 each, entailing a total investment of Rs 100 crore. We are currently in negotiations for acquisition of an existing building in Bangalore for the proposed hospital, which is expected to be operational next year. In Delhi, we have already identified around 4 sites, one of which will be finalised by February-March. The hospital will be commissioned by 2008," CV Rao, chairman and managing director of Image Group, told Business Standard.

"We have been following a unique business model, offering diagnostic and other healthcare services at affordable costs, and are hopeful that this model would be an instant success in Delhi and Bangalore too," he said.

The Rs 40-crore group currently operates two hospitals in Hyderabad "� one at Ameerpet and the other at Madhapur in Hitec City "� with approximately 400 beds.

It is also planning to come up with a 100-bedded hospital at Kukatpally in Hyderabad at a cost of Rs 10 crore. The group is currently scouting for suitable location and is expected to start the construction work on the project early next year.

Besides this, Rao said, the group was in the process of opening a Rs 25-crore oncology research centre at its Ameerpet hospital by early 2007. "We are dedicating two floors in our hospital to the centre that would be manned by 50 specialist doctors besides 150 supporting staff," he added.

The group is simultaneously pushing forward with its plans to diversify into the hospitality industry in a big way.

According to Rao, the group has already started the initial excavation works on its 200-room three-star hotel project at its 3.5-acre Image Gardens function hall at Madhapur, and the project is expected to be completed by 2009.

The two budget hotels with 50 rooms each, planned at Jubilee Hills and Ameerpet at a total cost of Rs 40 crore, are also expected to be operational by 2009.

"Money is not a constraint as far as our expansion plans are concerned as a few banks have already come forward to extend financial assistance for our proposed projects," Rao said.