{"id":581015,"date":"2026-08-26T15:44:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T15:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/581015\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T15:44:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T15:44:46","slug":"ihh-seeks-larger-fortis-stake-10000-bed-capacity-in-india-as-it-expands-global-reach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/581015\/","title":{"rendered":"IHH seeks larger Fortis stake, 10,000 bed capacity in India as it expands global reach"},"content":{"rendered":"

[NEW DELHI] IHH Healthcare is ramping up the expansion of its Indian healthcare business Fortis Healthcare, with the aim to nearly double the Indian hospital operator\u2019s capacity to about 10,000 beds by 2030.<\/p>\n

Fortis currently operates at a capacity of about 6,100 beds across 36 facilities in India.<\/p>\n

According to Fortis\u2019 managing director and chief executive Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, the expansion strategy relies on a two-pronged approach.<\/p>\n

Fortis will expand its existing hospital capacity to about 7,500 beds, while the remaining new beds will come from building new hospitals or potential mergers and acquisitions.<\/p>\n

Parallel to the operational scale-up, IHH also plans to increase its stake in Fortis to at least 51 per cent \u201cin the next few years\u201d, according to Ashok Pandit, IHH\u2019s chief corporate officer.<\/p>\n

The Malaysian-listed healthcare group currently owns 31.1 per cent of Fortis, having acquired the controlling stake<\/a> in 2018.<\/p>\n

The Indian market remains significantly underserved despite rapid investment by private hospital operators, with shortages persisting even in major metropolitan areas, said Dr Raghuvanshi during a media briefing in Delhi in early August.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe addressable market is very significant,\u201d he said. \u201cPublic healthcare is not able to take care of all the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the ability of people to access healthcare economically has improved, there is a shortage of beds, and that makes it a great opportunity,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO<\/p>\n

\"IHH<\/a>\"CEO<\/a><\/p>\n

Ritu Garg, Fortis\u2019 chief of growth and innovation, pointed to expanding insurance coverage as a key demand catalyst.<\/p>\n

She said about 28 per cent of Indian patients, typically small business owners and shopkeepers, are not covered by either government healthcare schemes or employer-provided insurance.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, rising demand for retail insurance in this segment is turning more patients towards private healthcare.<\/p>\n

To support the growth trajectory, Fortis will deploy about seven billion rupees (US$73.3 million) in 2026 to add 400 beds to its existing hospitals.<\/p>\n

\"\" A bed at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, the group\u2019s largest hospital. PHOTO: IHH HEALTHCARE <\/p>\n

The company plans to maintain this level of annual capital expenditure over the next three to four years to add about 400 beds each year through brownfield expansion, while greenfield expansion and potential acquisitions would come on top of this.<\/p>\n

Most of that spending can be funded through internal cash generation, considering the company\u2019s healthy balance sheet, he said.<\/p>\n

Its current debt-to-Ebitda ratio stands at a \u201cslightly conservative\u201d 1.08 times, but Dr Raghuvanshi said that the company could take on debt amounting to as much as 2.5 times Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) if necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there were a large acquisition, then perhaps additional equity would be required,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Global growth<\/p>\n

India remains behind IHH\u2019s other major markets<\/a> in revenue contribution, with Turkey and Europe as the group\u2019s largest contributors in Q1 2026, followed by Singapore, Malaysia and India.<\/p>\n

But Dr Raghuvanshi said that India\u2019s healthcare market offers substantial room for expansion for at least another decade.<\/p>\n

Apart from the domestic patient market, he noted that medical tourism contributes about 8 per cent to Fortis\u2019 revenue across its hospital network.<\/p>\n

Fortis is particularly targeting patients from Africa, as the continent\u2019s limited availability of advanced treatments and greater price sensitivity make India an attractive destination.<\/p>\n

The company is targeting annual revenue growth of at least 15 per cent, while aiming to lift its Ebitda margin from around 23 per cent currently to about 25 per cent over the next few years.<\/p>\n

In contrast to India\u2019s growth market, however, IHH has opted to take more organic growth strategies in its mature markets, such as Malaysia and Singapore.<\/p>\n

Pandit said that the group\u2019s strategy in these markets will focus far more on ambulatory care centres, or outpatient medical facilities.<\/p>\n

This shift comes as Malaysia\u2019s government is pushing reforms for more affordable private healthcare insurance to combat rising medical inflation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there is a limited scope for hospital expansion in Singapore, where IHH is unlikely to receive licences for new hospitals, Pandit said.<\/p>\n

He explained that the emphasis on ambulatory centres will allow the group to expand its care offerings without focusing solely on increasing bed capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cCosts are lower, and what we charge patients also is lower, so it\u2019s a win-win on both sides,\u201d Pandit said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[NEW DELHI] IHH Healthcare is ramping up the expansion of its Indian healthcare business Fortis Healthcare, with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[134,527,3274,126243,2344,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-581015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-hospitals","tag-ihh-healthcare","tag-india","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}