<div id="readability-page-1"><div><p>Malaysian healthcare giant IHH Healthcare is looking to enhance its grip in the Indian market through domestic brands Fortis Healthcare and Gleneagles. With legal troubles relating to the multinational firm’s acquisition of Fortis behind it, IHH Healthcare Group Chief Executive Officer <strong>Dr Prem Kumar Nair</strong> and Group Chief Corporate Officer <strong>Ashok Pandit</strong> tell <em>Surajeet Das Gupta</em> and <em>Sanket Koul</em> the firm’s strategy to expand in India. Edited excerpts:</p></div><div><div><div id="article-index-0">  <p><strong>A lot has happened since you acquired Fortis. Now that many of the earlier challenges seem addressed, how does India compare within your global network in terms of investments and expansion?</strong></p> </div><div id="article-index-1">  <p><strong>Nair:</strong> IHH operates in 10 countries with 76,000 employees, making us a large global healthcare group. Our most impactful markets include Malaysia, Singapore and Turkey, along with India, where we acquired Fortis in 2018.</p> </div><div id="article-index-2">  <p>  Indian healthcare has become one of the most vibrant markets globally in recent years. Today, India is a very high-priority country for IHH. Fortis will be our primary vehicle for growth.</p> </div><div id="article-index-3">  <p>  While legacy issues before the Mandatory Tender Offer (MTO) completion imposed some restrictions, Fortis continued to grow, disposing of unprofitable hospitals and acquiring new ones, particularly in Bengaluru, Punjab and the National Capital Region (NCR).</p> </div><div id="article-index-4">  <p>  Now, with the MTO completed, we are free to accelerate growth further. India will be a prominent market for us, with Fortis leading that expansion.</p> </div><div id="article-index-5">  <p><strong>IHH has mentioned adding 2,000 beds in India by 2028. Will this come through greenfield projects or the expansion of existing hospitals?</strong></p> </div><div id="article-index-6">  <p><strong>Pandit:</strong> Currently, we have around 6,000 beds across both Fortis and Gleneagles. We aim to have up to 10,000 beds by 2030.</p> </div><div id="article-index-7">  <p>  However, our approach to leadership will go beyond bed count. It includes clinical excellence, patient experience and revenue share. While bed expansion is relevant in India due to unmet demand, globally, we are also focusing on ambulatory care.</p> </div><div id="article-index-8">  <p><strong>What kind of investment do you feel will be required to reach this target?</strong></p> </div><div id="article-index-9">  <p><strong>Pandit:</strong> I cannot give a number, but the good thing is that Fortis today has a very strong balance sheet. So a large part of its transactions, especially brownfield and greenfield projects and internal capital expenditure (Capex), is self-funded.</p> </div><div id="article-index-10">  <p>  So if we come to a large merger and acquisition (M&amp;A) opportunity, then we will see what more is needed.</p> </div><div id="article-index-11">  <p><strong>What factors will determine whether you choose brownfield expansion or acquisitions?</strong></p> </div><div id="article-index-12">  <p><strong>Nair:</strong> I would say our first pillar of growth, not just for India but almost every country, is brownfield expansion because it offers more immediate operating leverage.</p> </div><div id="article-index-13">  <p>  We have 36 hospitals in India. Almost all of them are operating at around 70 to 80 per cent occupancy levels, which in private healthcare means that patients are missing out on getting a bed in our hospital. So you have to increase the capacity.</p> </div><div id="article-index-14">  <p>  The second strategy is cluster-based expansion. Fortis is currently present in Punjab, NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. In each of these clusters, if an opportunity arises for us to take a hospital — better still, an operating hospital that we can improve — we will take it.</p> </div><div id="article-index-15">  <p><strong>But will you have a conscious policy to go to Tier 2 and 3 cities?</strong></p> </div><div id="article-index-16">  <p><strong>Pandit:</strong> Our focus is on clusters. For example, in the northern cluster, we have Jalandhar, Amritsar, and Ludhiana, which are big Tier-2 cities. If you look at Delhi-NCR, we have Fortis in Manesar as well. So I think where we have the advantage of being in a cluster, that is where we will go.</p> </div><div id="article-index-17">  <p><strong>Nair:</strong> I think the key criteria in any city, be it Tier 1 or 2, is availability. There must be demand for healthcare services. Then you must find good personnel. You must be able to hire doctors and nurses, and that is exactly what we are doing in some of these cities where we are present.</p> </div><div id="article-index-18">  <p><strong>Will Fortis remain your only brand in India, or are you looking to acquire more brands?</strong></p> </div><div id="article-index-19">  <p><strong>Nair:</strong> We also have Gleneagles, which we acquired earlier. Over time, we rationalised and streamlined its operations. To improve efficiency and reduce costs, Gleneagles has been brought under Fortis management and is branded as a Fortis Network Hospital.</p> </div><div id="article-index-20">  <p>  Fortis has largely completed backend and clinical integration of Gleneagles. Specialist recruitment has also been strong. Over time, it may make sense to bring both under a unified structure, but we are not currently looking at separate divisions or brands as such.</p> </div><div id="article-index-21">  <p><strong>What is the potential of Fortis becoming a global brand under the IHH umbrella?</strong></p> </div><div id="article-index-22">  <p><strong>Nair:</strong> Fortis is a strong domestic brand, similar to Mount Elizabeth in Singapore or Pantai in Malaysia. It will remain India-focused.</p> </div><div id="article-index-23">  <p>  Gleneagles, on the other hand, is our international brand. The original hospital is in Singapore, which then expanded to Malaysia, Brunei, Hong Kong, and India. So we can use Gleneagles to expand internationally.</p> </div><div id="article-index-24">  <p><strong>Do you see opportunities for your other global brands to also come to India?</strong></p> </div><div id="article-index-25">  <p><strong>Pandit:</strong> No. Our main entity here will remain Fortis. Fortis has different tiers of hospitals. Some of the hospitals, like FMRI, are fairly in that sort of segment where you have excellent clinical outcomes. They have spent a lot of money on the Capex side, like MR-LINACs and Gamma Knife. So the patient outcomes are cutting-edge.</p> </div><div id="article-index-26">  <p><strong>How are you looking at tapping India’s medical tourism segment? What kind of investment are you looking at in this area?</strong></p> </div><div id="article-index-27">  <p><strong>Nair:</strong> India is a natural medical travel destination, especially for countries in West Asia, Africa, the CIS states and Central Asia. Wherever relevant, we will put facilitation offices, like we have in Africa, to help patients coming over in getting a visa and various other processes.</p> </div><div id="article-index-28">  <p><strong>With the West Asia conflict also coming into the picture, what kind of effect are you seeing on Fortis’s international patient revenue?</strong></p> </div><div id="article-index-29">  <p><strong>Nair:</strong> We are seeing a drop in numbers from West Asia to the tune of 25 to 30 per cent. However, medical tourism is very interesting, as whenever there is a crisis or travel is restricted, medical travel is deferred rather than stopping completely.</p> </div><div id="article-index-30">  <p>  Most of these procedures are elective procedures, not emergencies. So, in such cases, the patient will defer it. But typically, what happens after the crisis ends is there is a big bump-up in patients because they all come back. That is what we have seen in all our markets as well.</p> </div><div id="article-index-31">  <p><strong>Will you prioritise investing in single-speciality offshoots like Fortis's maternity care hospital, La Femme?</strong></p> </div><div id="article-index-32">  <p><strong>Pandit:</strong> I think the next phase of growth in India is going to be from ambulatory care, where procedures like chemotherapy, dialysis, and endoscopies can be done in a daycare setting. That is where the opportunity lies, but it will also be multi-speciality there and not single-speciality.</p> </div><div id="article-index-33">  <p><strong>With improving patient mix at Fortis, will the focus be more on developing affordable, practical technologies in AI, robotics or oncology?</strong></p> </div><div id="article-index-34">  <p><strong>Pandit:</strong> Fortis has invested strongly in oncology, including top clinical talent and advanced equipment like MR-LINAC. The focus is on improving care quality while keeping costs affordable.</p> </div><div id="article-index-35">  <p>  Adoption of new technology will be driven by real-world impact and affordability, with AI expected to further transform areas like drug discovery and hospital operations. Through initiatives like the IHH Catalyst Programme, Fortis is partnering with startups to implement scalable, practical innovations within our group.</p> </div><div id="article-index-36">  <p><strong>Nair:</strong> Specialty mix is evolving. Cardiology has declined due to better prevention, while oncology is rising due to higher cancer incidence and longer lifespans. Orthopaedics is also growing with ageing populations, and fields like immunology will grow.</p> </div><div id="article-index-37">  <p>  Robotics adoption is increasing, especially with more cost-effective options emerging. Our doctors have already trialled some of the Asian-made machines, which come at a lower cost but are as good as other machines.</p> </div><div id="article-index-38">  <p><strong>Last year, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the establishment of daycare cancer centres in India through possible public-private partnerships (PPPs). Have there been any such discussions with Fortis, and will you be open to the PPP model in future?</strong></p> </div><div id="article-index-39">  <p><strong>Pandit:</strong> There have not been any such discussions with us yet, but it makes a lot of sense. If this happens, Fortis will be pretty happy to look at it.</p> </div><div id="article-index-40">  <p><strong>Nair:</strong> In countries like Singapore and Malaysia, IHH has significant PPPs with the government, especially in cancer care. We are very happy to consider PPPs because it makes sense, as public systems are becoming very adjusted and under-resourced.</p> </div><div id="article-index-41">  <p>If there is an opportunity to do it, it will probably be at lower rates than what we are doing for private patients. But we have hospital capacity that we can always share for such partnerships.</p> </div></div></div></div>

<p>IHH Healthcare aims to strengthen its presence in India post-Fortis acquisition, viewing the country as a high-priority market. The company plans to expand its bed capacity from 6,000 to 10,000 by 2030, focusing on both brownfield and cluster-based expansions. With a strong balance sheet, Fortis will self-fund many projects. IHH emphasizes the importance of demand and personnel availability in selecting locations for new facilities, while also integrating Gleneagles into the Fortis brand. The strategy includes enhancing clinical excellence and patient experience alongside bed expansion.</p>

India to be priority market post-Fortis deal, IHH eyes cluster expansion