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Apollo Hospitals to invest Rs 1,600 cr in expansion

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T E NarasimhanGireesh Babu Chennai

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd is to add 3,000 beds, with an investment of Rs 1,600 crore, in the next three years. The chain is planning to fund the expansion through debt and equity.

Meanwhile, its planned foray into ayurveda in a big way has hit a block, after talks with Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala having failed. The consolidated revenue rose to Rs 2,605 crore in 2010-11 from Rs 2,026 crore a year before, a rise of 28 per cent. Profit after tax rose to Rs 183.9 crore from Rs 137.6 crore, an increase of 33 per cent.

Speaking at the sidelines of the company’s annual general meeting here on Friday, Prathap C Reddy, executive chairman and founder, said the chain had 8,700 beds with 54 hospitals across the country. It planned to add 3,000 beds with 10 hospitals by 2013-14. The six sites finalised include Mumbai, Nashik and Tiruchi, he said.

 

The proposed investment includes better technology. “We are planning to buy four robots from a US-based company for $2.2 million each”, to be used for surgery and other treatment, he said.

The proposed investments will be funded through debt and equity, which include the promoters’ infusion. “We (promoters) have committed Rs 320 crore to infuse, of which 25 per cent is already infused,” said Reddy. The chain got shareholders’ nod to raise Rs 900 crore through qualified institutional placement, of which the total it has raised till now is Rs 330 crore.

AYURVEDA BLOCK
Reddy said talks with the century-old and Kerala-based Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala had not worked.

“The issue has been related to patents, testing and others. It did not work and it is not possible with them for now,” he explained.

The chain is now looking for another partner in the proposed foray.

Apollo and Kottakkal earlier planned to jointly conduct research in the traditional system of medicine for scientific validation of treatment and come up with a database. On obtaining scientific validation, Apollo was to offer ayurvedic treatment in its hospitals.

Apollo Health City in Hyderabad and a couple of other hospitals of the group already offer ayurvedic rejuvenation therapy. The collaboration with Kottakkal was expected to widen the scope, to disease treatment.

PHARMACY HIVING
Apollo also plans to hive off its pharmacy retail chain, said Reddy. “We are waiting for the retail bill (of the central government) to come, following which we will take a final call.”

The number of pharmacies will be increased to 1,500 from the 1,199 as on March 31. The pharmacy business has also reported good earnings, said Reddy.

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First Published: Jul 23 2011 | 12:53 AM IST

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