Dialysis centre chain NephroPlus eyes overseas foray; to start with Vietnam

India's largest chain of dialysis centres NephroPlus is planing its overseas foray with 75-100 dialysis centres in 5 international markets starting with Vietnam in the course of next three years using recent investments.

The company has already signed a couple of contracts in Vietnam where it would start its operations in the next 3-4 months. It would then proceed to set up these centres through acquisitions partnerships in Indonesia, Philippines, apart from a couple of countries in the Middle East involving a total capex of Rs 150 crore-Rs 175 crore, according to Nephroplus founder and CEO Vikram Vuppala.

NephroPlus recently received an investment of $45 million (Rs 323 crore) from Investcorp of Bahrain. The company used the current round of investment to raise the funds through primary equity sale for the proposed overseas foray in addition to facilitating the exit of Sealink Capital, one of the existing investors of Nephroplus. The investors hold the controlling stake in the company.

"While we continue to expand our Indian operations by adding about 40 centers a year primarily using the internal accruals and some debt, we would also want to focus on the emerging economies for overseas expansion. These international locations will be within 10-12 hours of flying distance from India as we need to closely audit and monitor the proposed centers," Vikram Vuppala said on Tuesday.  

Founded in the year 2009, NephroPlus currently runs 197 dialysis centres in 116 cities across 20 states in the country, catering to over 14,000 dialysis patients, mostly in partnership with hospitals in private and government sector. The company claims to have a zero infection rate among patients served by its dialysis centres in the country.  

The size of the dialysis market in India is around $500 million while it is growing at a rate of 25-30 per cent. NephroPlus and other organised players share about 20 percent of the total market, according to Vuppala.

As patients with kidney ailments undergo dialysis 2-3 times a weak, NephroPlus took care to locate most of its dialysis centres in districts to cut down on their travel requirement. The company expects to post a revenue of Rs 270 crore-Rs 280 crore in the current financial year.