“The expansion will be entirely funded from our cash flows; we are a debt-free company; we have enough elbow room to borrow,” Soi added. The expansion will comprise both greenfield and brownfield projects.
Max Healthcare has 4,000 beds, mainly concentrated in Delhi NCR. Of the fresh capacity, about 2,600 beds will become available over the next four years. The hospital chain is planning to open 300 beds in Delhi shortly besides commissioning 1,000 beds each in FY25 and FY26.
Soi, who owns 23.7% of Max Healthcare, has set his eyes on Uttar Pradesh where he wants Max Healthcare to be the leading hospital chain. Medanta currently leads the UP market with its 1,000-bed hospital in Lucknow.
Max Healthcare will be investing about ?2,500 crore in 3-5 years in Lucknow which will be used towards setting up a greenfield 500-bed hospital on 5.6-acre land parcel at Shaheed Path in the city besides augmenting capacity at Sahara Hospital which it acquired for ?940 crore last year.
The 550-bed Sahara Hospital, located in the heart of Lucknow at Gomti Nagar on a 27-acre land parcel, was rebranded as Max Super Speciality Hospital on Tuesday. The hospital has an operational capacity of 285 beds. Soi said Max Healthcare would be investing ?150-?200 crore to upgrade the Sahara Hospital by adding 265 more beds, renovate the civil infrastructure and introduce robotics, radiation therapy in oncology, transplants and nursing education.”Uttar Pradesh has always been on our radar; it also aims to be a $1-trillion economy which is not very far. Also, we have an existing hospital in Noida; the UP government is also very supportive towards healthcare,” Soi said.”With these expansions, Max Healthcare will be the largest private healthcare network in Uttar Pradesh, with over 2,000 beds, treating around 1.5 million people,” Soi claimed.
According to a recent report by credit rating agency CareEdge Ratings, the Indian hospital industry is poised to post a healthy compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 12% over the next three fiscal years. The surge in growth has led to an increase in capital expenditure by healthcare companies.
