British government-owned development finance institution CDC has invested USD 48 million in Bengaluru-based Narayana Hrudayalaya hospital chains for a minority share.
Narayana Hrudayalaya will use funds to expand affordable treatment in Eastern, Central and Western regions of the country.
The affordable chain of multi-speciality hospitals is promoted by noted cardiac surgeon Dr Devi Shetty, who did not specify the quantum of equity that will be pared with the British investor post investment.
Founded in 2000 by Dr Shetty, the hospital has become the third largest hospital chain in the country spanning 17 cities.
Funds from CDC will help build or expand hospitals in cities such as Kolkata, Lucknow, Bhubaneshwar and Bengaluru.
"Our long-term capital and strategic support can help Narayana Health build on the success that it has had in using innovation and its scale to deliver world-class healthcare standards to its lower and middle-income patients.
"The company leads the low-cost healthcare market in the country with a mission to continually drive down the cost of care. Around half of its patients receive financial support for treatment, either from the hospital itself or through government schemes.
"It is this development impact, along with significant expected job growth, that makes this hospital such a compelling case for CDC's investment," CDC said in a statement.
On the investment, Dr Shetty said, "We want to transform the way healthcare is delivered across the world and CDC has the right approach towards addressing social issues in developing countries. We partnered with CDC because they are interested in long-term societal transformation and this objective is closely aligned with our goal."
The hospital chain also operates one of the world's largest telemedicine networks, with 150 telemedicine centres including 50 in Africa. This system allows remote health facilities outside the main hospitals to seek advice from consultants at Narayana Health free-of-charge.
CDC has been an investor in India since 1987, focusing on supporting the country's nascent private equity industry in the 2000s as a fund-of-funds investor. In 2012, CDC started to provide direct equity and debt to companies in poorer parts of Africa and South Asia.
It recently made a USD 11 million equity investment in the UP-based microfinance lender Utkarsh. Its other direct investments in the country in 2014 include Ratnakar Bank and microfinance lender Equitas.
