Ramalinga Raju's new love: Healthcare, pharma

B Ramalinga Raju, founder and former chairman of erstwhile Satyam Computer Services, who is now cooling his heels in Cherlapally central prison here after being convicted in the multi-crore fraud case, is said to have made efforts to resurrect his entrepreneurial spirit after he was on bail in November 2011. This time, in health care and pharmaceuticals.

Having prior experience in conceptualising and funding the popular 108 and 104 ambulance services, run by Emergency Medical and Research Institute and Health Management and Research Institute, respectively, he has reportedly invested in a yet-to-be-launched, fully-equipped mobile hospitals business.

The new mobile hospital services company, according to informed sources in the Kshatriya community, which Ramalinga Raju belongs to, has been named 'On Call' and was supposed to be rolled out on November 2, 2014, but got indefinitely postponed.

"The company is planning to launch the service with 40 vehicles in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to begin with, and expand it to other states in phases," they told Business Standard.

He is also showing interest in investing in pharmaceuticals, the sources said. But Raju has not discarded his first love, real estate, and has been running such businesses outside of Andhra Pradesh and also abroad, including Latin America.

"Over the years, Raju and his family have acquired huge land parcels in other countries as well, mostly in other people's names. It is said he is now liquidating small chunks of these immovable assets to fuel his personal investment plans," sources added.

The Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate, which probed the multi-crore fraud at the erstwhile Satyam, have confiscated over 4,000 acres owned by Raju and his relatives under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act since August 2010. These include large chunks of lands and plots in posh localities of Hyderabad and Bengaluru.