Apollo to open 20 Cradle centres, 70 clinics

Apollo Health and Lifestyle (AHLL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Apollo Hospitals, will open about 15-20 women's health and maternity care centres titled Cradle and about 70 clinics in the next two years.

About 2-3 maternity care centres, each involving investment of Rs 12 crore (excluding land cost), and 8-10 clinics, each requiring investment of Rs 2 crore, would be wholly owned by AHLL, said Ratan Jalan, CEO, AHLL. The rest will be run by franchisees.

Jalan said nearly Rs 30 crore could be raised through private placement of equity or debt to meet the expenses in the expansion plan for the next two years.

This apart, AHLL is also planning to open day-surgery centres by 2008.

The subsidiary had a turnover of Rs 6 crore last fiscal, and this fiscal the target is Rs 8 crore.