Dr Batra's to double clinic count in FY23 on spike in homoeopathy demand

Eyes 225 centres, entry into smaller towns; Firm says clinics are back to pre-Covid-19 footfall levels, with 30% YoY growth in patients in FY22

Buoyed by the uptick in demand for homeopathy treatment after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Batra’s Clinic is looking to more than double its clinic network to 225 centres in 2022-23. It also plans to expand its footprint in the smaller towns and cities.

Mukesh Batra, Founder Dr Batra’s Group of Companies said that the clinics are back to pre-Covid-19 footfall levels, with a 30 per cent year-on-year growth in patients in FY22. “We have over 100 clinics now, of which 10 are overseas. We are looking to take this count to 225 in FY23,” Batra said. He said the firm posted a 30 per cent growth in both revenues and Ebitda in FY22.

Batra’s also has 90 franchise partners and now it plans to open at least 15-20 more clinics in smaller towns and cities to take the presence to over 100 cities across India.

Batra says that acceptance of AYUSH medicines was better during Covid-19, and people are queuing up with post-Covid and long Covid-19 complications. Dr Batra’s has seen almost 200 percent rise in patients with respiratory illnesses after the pandemic, while cases with anxiety and depression have seen a 24 percent surge. “Fatigue, immunity issues, allergy, insomnia or other sleep disorders are common after Covid-19,” Batra says, adding that they are not looking for a quick fix or launch over-the- counter products for these complaints. “We are looking to treat each complaint in an individualized manner. We will launch some OTC products in the general immunity category,” he adds.

At the same time, the homeopathy chain also wants to bet on e-commerce with the 80 SKUs it has, and launch products in the personal care space like hair colour, coloured hair shampoos, nutraceutical products, weight management, skincare range like calendula soaps etc.

According to data available on the AYUSH Ministry website, there are over 2,46,772 homoeopathy practitioners, 245 hospitals and 6958 government dispensaries. There are 187 homeopath colleges with the capacity to churn out 13,444 homeopaths every year.

It is estimated that around 10 percent of India’s population uses homeopathy medicines. Globally, this market is clocking a 25 percent growth rate, compared to the 10 percent growth rate of allopathic medicines.

Demand rise after two years of Covid-19: Story in numbers

13,283: Total patients with respiratory complaints since Covid-19

8,737: Total patients with complaints of anxiety and depression since Covid-19

3,830: Total patients with complaints of fatigue since Covid-19

951: Total patients with complaints of Immunity related issues since Covid-19

446: Total complaints of Insomnia since Covid-19