Bangladesh crisis will not impact Apollo's revenue, says top executive

The ongoing crisis in Bangladesh is unlikely to have a large impact on the revenue of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (AHEL), though the country holds a 30 per cent share in its overseas patient volume, a top company official told Business Standard. The company is also expecting to complete its plans despite the situation.

Following the crisis, New Delhi had closed all visa centres, which may turn out to be a blow for the medical tourism industry. "If you look at overall inpatient versus volume, it contributes a significant component of it. Bangladesh contributes the largest percentage of our revenue from any single country. However, it is only 2 per cent of our overall healthcare services revenue and, on the consolidated level, it is even less. From an overall revenue standpoint, we don't see a huge impact because of that," said Madhu Sasidhar, president and chief executive officer, AHEL.

Bangladesh has long been the largest source of medical tourists to India, with a 48 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) surge bringing 449,570 patients in 2023 alone. "We have seen some decrease in patient volume, but we also believe that will come back very quickly," he added. AHEL is planning to add around 1,500 beds across multiple hospitals next year.

The company's chief financial officer, Krishnan Akhileswaran, said that Apollo HealthCo has achieved breakeven, and its online business is also expected to breakeven within the next six quarters. "Healthcare services will continue to grow at a mid-teen level. We will be adding around 1,500 beds across multiple hospitals next year. In HealthCo, we will move into a higher growth rate next quarter and beyond. We are confident that this growth should go beyond the 18 per cent mark soon," Akhileswaran added.

Private equity firm Advent International (Advent) in April agreed to invest Rs 2,475 crore in Apollo HealthCo, a subsidiary of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise (AHEL). The Rs 890 crore that AHEL received from the deal will be used for “organic and inorganic expansion.” Akhileswaran said that the deal is expected to be completed by September this year. "We are awaiting CCI approval. Shareholders' approval should come in by next week," he added.

AHEL on Tuesday reported an 83 per cent rise in net profit during the first quarter of the financial year 2024-25 (Q1FY25) to Rs 305 crore, up from Rs 167 crore during the April to June quarter of 2023-24 (Q1FY24). "This is due to organic growth in revenues and certain cost rationalisation efforts that we saw in Apollo HealthCo, which has resulted in this profit. We are seeing sustainable profit going forward as well," he added. Healthcare services grew by 15 per cent this quarter, which is the hospital business, aided by 11 per cent volume growth.