Dr Agarwal's plans Rs 500 crore spend for setting up 60 hospitals in 3 yrs

Dr Agarwal's Eye Hospitals Ltd has chalked out an expansion plan by adding 60 eye hospitals at an outlay of Rs 500 crore, taking the total presence to 150 globally in the next two-three years, a top official of the eye care provider said on Wednesday.

With the expansion, the company eyes strengthening presence in Africa and is also looking at entering South Asian Association Regional Cooperation countries, Dr Agarwal's Eye Hospitals chairman Dr Amar Agarwal said.

"Agarwal's Eye Hospital is expanding by investing Rs 500 crore in the next two to three years to create 150 eye hospitals, globally. At present we are 90 hospitals-plus, that means in the next 2-3 years we will be adding 60 eye hospitals," Agarwal told PTI.

The healthcare provider currently has 90 eye hospitals globally, he said.

Elaborating, he said, "CDC Group, a private equity fund of United Kingdom government, has invested Rs 215 crore".

"Temasek, a Singapore-equity fund, invested about Rs 270 crore. When Temasek invested, they have done it with due diligence, it gives me credibility", he said.

"My portfolio shows Temasek and CDC Group and my credibility goes tremendously high", he said.

To a query, he said currently, Dr Agarwal's is a zero-debt company.

On the domestic front, he said, "For the first time, we opened a hospital in Mumbai last week. We are targeting at least 20 hospitals in Maharashtra. Out of which, we will be opening 10 in Mumbai alone. This will be in the next two years," he said.

"We are not in tier-I cities alone. (In Mumbai). We are going to Tier-II and III cities. In Kerala, we've already opened one hospital in Trivandrum. We are going to open in Kochi, Kottayam. In Madhya Pradesh, we are looking at opening five hospitals in Indore. By next year (2020) we will have 100 eye hospitals", he said.

"I will touch 150 eye hospitals in two-three years", he said.

Besides, the Rs 215-crore funding from CDC Group, the eye care provider early this year raised Rs 270 crore from Temasek.

"With the funding received we are expanding our presence in 150 locations. We will look at additional funding only when required. Right now, we have enough funds," he said responding to a query.

He said every single day, 15,000 patients walk into Agarwal Eye Hospitals now and it was expected to increase to 30,000 patients.

On the overseas front, he said, "we have 14 hospitals in Africa. We will be having more than 20 hospitals in Africa in 2-3 years".

"We are delivering quality eye care across the board. In Chennai alone, we have 20 hospitals", he said.

To a query, he said, "We may be in SAARC countries in next two-three years".