Asia, Africa exciting markets for healthcare firms: Malvinder

Choosing not to make a direct comment on the impasse over the takeover of Singapore-based Parkway Holdings, Fortis group promoter Malvinder Singh today outlined Asia, Africa and the Indian sub-continent as exciting geographies for Indian healthcare companies.

“Indian healthcare companies are better-served by going into the emerging markets of Asia, Africa and the Indian sub-continent,” Singh said after his keynote address at the Pharma Leadership Summit here today.

He, however, clarified that his views were not company-specific but generic ones applicable for the entire industry. Fortis has been competing with Malaysian state fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd to get a controlling stake in the Singapore-headquartered hospital chain — Parkway Holdings. The Indian company will have to make a bid of over $2.3-billion for getting the full stake and has been given a deadline till July 30.

Singh, who flew in from Singapore for the Summit, drew parallels between the Indian pharma sector and healthcare, saying, the latter is at the cusp of being made into a global story, just like pharma was in the 1970s.

“Ranbaxy (the company which Singh sold to Japan-based Diachi in 2008) went into the African market and then to Saudi Arabia and elsewhere...Ten years from now, we will be discussing the Indian healthcare story just like pharma,” he said.

The healthcare segment will also see good demand domestically as over 700 million people in India do not have access to speciality care and will require over $40 billion (Rs 1.85 lakh crore) in investments as we go forward, he said.

Singh also called for implementation of the “Public Private Partnerships model” in healthcare. “The Government, which controls over 70 per cent of the healthcare infrastructure, should focus on regulating the sector and not on delivering health services,” he said.

The private sector will have to prove that they are capable of delivering the goods and should evolve economic models which make the delivery viable in Tier-II and Tier-III cities as there is a great need for venturing into smaller towns, he added.

To a query on funding, Singh said private equity funds will always be interested in investing in Indian healthcare companies, provided the companies present good models.

Fortis, which bought a 25.27 per cent stake in Parkway Holdings this year, is estimated to require over Rs 10,000-crore for emerging the winner in the race for Parkway’s assets.

In what comes as a setback to the prospects, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation yesterday deferred an investment of Rs 380-crore in Fortis’ preferential share allotment.