Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome to the Fortis Healthcare Limited Q2 FY 2026 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, all participant clients will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Anurag Kalra, Head of Investor Relations at Fortis Healthcare Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you so much. Very good morning and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Fortis Healthcare's Quarter 2 FY 2026 Earnings Call. I have the pleasure of introducing you to Dr. Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, our Managing Director and CEO, who's going to chair the call. With him, we have Mr. Vivek Goyal, our Chief Financial Officer from Agilus Diagnostics. Anand, the CEO, is joining us, and with him, we have Mr. Akshay Tiwari, the CFO of Agilus. We will start with some opening remarks on the quarter gone by and its performance by Dr. Raghuvanshi, post which Anand will take you through the key highlights of the diagnostics business, and then we should open the floor for questions and answers. Over to Dr. Raghuvanshi.
Thank you, Anurag. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to join us on our Q2 Financial Year 2026 Earnings Call today. Before moving to the financial performance, I would like to highlight that we continue to witness a healthy growth momentum in Q2 Financial Year 2026 and H1 of Financial Year 2026. Both our business segments, hospitals and diagnostics, continue to perform well, both in terms of revenue and margins. Coming to the quarterly results, we reported a consolidated top line of INR 2,331 crores, a growth of 17.3% over the Quarter 2 of Financial Year 2025. Our hospital business revenues have grown 19.3% to INR 1,974 crores, while Q2 Financial Year 2026 diagnostic business net revenues have grown by 7.1% to INR 357 crores versus INR 334 crores in Financial Year 2025. The hospital business revenue accounts for 85% of our consolidated revenue.
Our consolidated operating EBITDA increased 28% to INR 556 crores, delivering a margin of 23.9% versus 21.9% in Q2 of Financial Year 2025. The hospital business reported an operating EBITDA of INR 452 crores, driving a 150 basis points improvement in margin from 21.4% in Q2 of Financial Year 2025 to 22.9% in Q2 of Financial Year 2026. Our consolidated profit after tax before exceptional items for the quarter increased 20.7% to INR 305 crores. Let me also briefly touch on the H1 Financial Year 2026 result numbers of the company. Our consolidated revenues for H1 Financial Year 2026 stood at INR 4,498 crores, up 16.9% versus H1 of Financial Year 2025. Operating EBITDA for H1 Financial Year 2026 increased to INR 1,047 crores, reflecting a robust 310 basis points improvement to 23.3% compared to 20.2% in the corresponding period last year.
H1 Financial Year 2026 hospital business revenue increased by 19% to INR 3,812 crores. Operating margin for the hospital business improved by 250 basis points to 22.5% for the period versus 20% in the corresponding previous period. On the balance sheet front, the company's net debt stands at INR 2,219 crores, with a net debt to EBITDA of 0.96x as on September 30, 2025, as against 0.16x on September 30, 2024. The increase in debt was primarily due to funds raised to part finance the acquisition of the 31.5% fee stakes in Agilus Diagnostics and the acquisition of Fortis brand and trademark and acquisition of Shriman Superspecialty Hospital Jalandhar. Our growth and expansion initiatives are gathering pace.
I'm pleased to inform that during the quarter, the company entered into a 15-year lease agreement for a 200-bedded multispecialty hospital in Greater Noida, a facility that we have previously been managing under an O&M agreement. The company also signed an O&M agreement for a 550-bedded Greenfield super specialty hospital to be constructed in Lucknow by Ekana Group. In July 2025, the company consummated the acquisition of Shrimann Superspecialty Hospital in Jalandhar, Punjab, taking the total beds in Punjab cluster to 965. We also entered into an operation and maintenance services agreement with Gleneagles India to manage five hospitals and a clinic within their network. The integration of Gleneagles units under the agreement with Fortis is progressing well. Our brownfield bed expansion plans are also progressing well with the expansion in our existing facilities, the Jalandhar acquisition, and the new arrangement in Greater Noida.
We have added 550 operational beds in H1 of Financial Year 2026. Continuing from Q1, our hospital occupancy further improved to 71% compared to 69% in Q1 of Financial Year 2026. This translates into occupied beds increased by about 13% to 3,318 beds in Q2 of Financial Year 2026 compared to 2,928 beds in Q1 of Financial Year 2026. Our hospital business recorded a 5.8% increase in RPOB, reaching INR 2.51 crore per annum. Higher RPOB was driven by an improved specialty mix led by strong growth in oncology. The oncology segment grew 29% year-on-year, increasing its revenue contribution to 16.2% from 15% in Q2 of Financial Year 2025. The growth in RPOB was further supported by increasing share of complex cases, reflected in 66% year-on-year increase in robotic surgeries. Our revenue from medical travel grew 26% compared to Q2 of Financial Year 2025 to reach INR 169 crore.
The revenue contribution of international business stood at 8.1% in Q2 compared to 7.7% in the corresponding previous year. In 13 of our facilities, we have reported operating EBITDA above 20% during the Q2 of Financial Year 2026. These 13 facilities together contributed 77% to the hospital revenues in comparison. In Financial Year 2025, we had 10 of our facilities with operating EBITDA margin of 20% and contributing 73% to the hospital revenues. Our key hospitals such as Shalimar Bagh, Faridabad, and Mohali witnessed margin expansion compared to both corresponding and trailing quarters. In addition, our key facilities such as Noida, Faridabad, and Mohali registered revenue growth in excess of 20% compared to the corresponding previous period. Revenue from digital channels via website and mobile applications, as well as digital campaigns, witnessed a 20.4% year-on-year growth.
Digital revenues contributed 29.5% to overall hospital revenues versus 29.3% in Q2 of Financial Year 2025. The company further strengthened its medical talent with onboarding of specialists in the area of oncology, cardiac sciences, obstetrics and gynecology, neurosciences, and gastroenterology. I'm also pleased to share that our diagnostic business continues to witness traction both in top line and margins. Gross revenue grew 7.3% to INR 400 crores from INR 372 crores in Q2 of Financial Year 2025. Operating EBITDA margin stood at 26.1% versus 21.5% in Q2 of Financial Year 2025. Excluding one-offs, operating EBITDA margin stood at 24% in Q2 of Financial Year 2025. For H1 Financial Year 2026, gross revenues grew 7.3% to INR 768 crores compared to INR 716 crores in H1 of Financial Year 2025. Operating EBITDA margins stood at 24.6% versus 18.9% in H1 of Financial Year 2025.
Excluding one-offs, operating EBITDA margin stood at 21.4% in H1 of Financial Year 2025. As part of our ongoing network expansion strategy, the total number of new customer touchpoints reached 4,330 as of September 30, 2025. The preventive portfolio revenues in Agilus revenue contributed 13% to the operating revenue. We continue to witness a steady recovery in both revenue and operating EBITDA margins. We expect the positive growth momentum to continue and believe the company is well-positioned to further scale up its revenue performance. With this, I will conclude my comments. I believe our businesses are well-positioned to sustain their growth trajectory. Leveraging the strength of our balance sheet, we will continue to explore and evaluate growth opportunities within our focus geographies. Thank you. With this, I hand over to Mr. Anand for his comments now.
Thank you, Dr. Raghuvanshi. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. On behalf of Agilus Diagnostics, I welcome you to our Q2 FY 2026 Results Conference Call. Agilus Diagnostics reported a revenue of INR 399.6 crores in Q2 of FY 2026, reflecting a growth of 7.3% compared to INR 372.5 crores in Q2 of FY 2025 and INR 368.8 crores in Q1 of FY 2026, a growth of 8.4%. Operating EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 104 crores, up from INR 80 crores in Q2 of FY 2025, with margins improving to 26.1% from the 21.5% in the corresponding quarter of previous year. In Q1 FY 2026, operating EBITDA was INR 85 crores with a margin of 23%. In the case of H1 FY 2026, we have a top line of INR 768 crores with a growth of 7.9% compared to the previous year's same H1, which was at INR 709.2 crores.
The EBITDA for the same period of H1 of FY 2026 was at INR 188.9 crores, which is at 24.7%, which is compared to the previous corresponding quarter of the previous year at INR 135 crores of EBITDA with a 19.1% margin profile. During Q2 of FY 2026, Agilus conducted 10.6 million tests compared to 10.4 million tests in Q2 of FY 2025 and 10.1 million tests in Q1 of FY2026. We recorded a gross addition of seven new labs and 200 plus new customer touchpoints during this quarter, reflecting our continued focus on strengthening presence and accessibility across geographies. The B2C- B2B revenue mix stood at 52-48 in Q2 of FY 2026 compared to 53-47 in Q2 of FY 2025. From a product standpoint, revenue contributions for Q2 FY 2026 stood at 53% from routine tests, 34% from specialized tests, and 13% from our wellness portfolio.
On the geography front, revenues were driven by 30% from the north, 33% from the south, 20% from the west, 12% from the east, and 4% from our international markets. We have continued to enhance our digital platforms this quarter as well to elevate the customer experience. Our automation-led workflow improvements and real-time tracking tools have helped streamline operations and improve service delivery. We also expanded our AI-led reporting capabilities to support faster and more accurate diagnostics. Our focus on next-generation diagnostics has further strengthened our genomics portfolio, which grew by 20% compared to Q2 of FY 2025. We launched 19 new tests this quarter, expanding our capabilities in oncology, infectious diseases, and autoimmune diagnostics. Key additions include the Multiple Myeloma Screening and Monitoring Panels, Agilus Edge CGP Rapid for fast genomic profiling, and the TB Resist Plus test for drug-resistant TB detection.
Other highlights include Clone Detect and Scan for bone marrow analysis and HealthyDish for head-to-status in cancer, along with anti-MCV marker for early rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis. These new additions reinforce our commitment to expanding cutting-edge diagnostic capabilities, driving precision medicine, and improving patient outcomes. Thank you, and over to you, Anurag.
Thank you, Anand. Ladies, you should now open the floor for questions and answers. May I request the moderator to comment, please?
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Tausif from BNP Paribas Exane Research. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity and congrats on a good set of numbers. Sir, a few questions on the hospital business. During the quarter, we had some extreme weather conditions in some part of northern India. I just want to understand whether any of the hospital was impacted during the quarter.
Yes. In Punjab, there was a lot of flooding, as you're aware. That did cause some disruption in our Ludhiana as well as in Mohali and Amritsar facility. However, there was no immediate problem in the surrounding areas. The hospital kept on functioning normally. However, the patient flow was impacted for a week or so. Overall, as you can see, the results are quite satisfactory.
That's helpful. Second question on the recent long-term lease agreement which you have signed for the Greater Noida facility and earlier, 2009. Can you help us understand the impact on P&L?
Yeah. There is a P&L charge of rental which will be below EBITDA, actually. It will be around INR 23.5 crore. Sorry, INR 2.3 crore per month. It will be like yearly charge will be around that number, INR 2.3 crore per month multiplied by 12 will be the annual charge. As regard the profitability, this unit is doing around revenue of around INR 10 crore per month now. This has a 200-bedded capacity which can further be extended to 250-bedded. It is earlier managed by Fortis. It is a sort of plug-and-play for us. It is all the IT systems. Our HIS system is working there. Oracle Fusion, the ERP system, is working there. That way, it will be a sort of plug-and-play model. We hope that we will be able to ramp up it quite fast.
Right now, this unit is generating EBITDA of around 2%-3%.
Okay. That's helpful. Just last one on the diagnostic.
Yeah. It is a relatively new unit, as you might be knowing. It has opened around one and a half years back.
That's helpful. Just last question on the diagnostic piece. I think this quarter we have seen a significant ramp up in the margin profile. What kind of trajectory one should see for going ahead for the diagnostic business?
As we have guided earlier also, it was the margins for if you see the half year, we are around 24%. I think we'll be somewhere around 23%-24% for the whole year is what we are expecting.
That's helpful. I'll get back to you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Neha Manpuria from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for taking my question. So my first question is on the Glen Eagles O&M. Currently, does this include Mumbai also, or is it just for the facilities except Mumbai?
Yeah. Mumbai is not included in the current arrangement. However, we are looking forward to have that in future.
Understood. Given the update that we saw from the approval for SEBI for open offer, how should we think about Fortis eventually, at some point of time, looking to take over, converting this O&M into, let's say, acquiring these assets? I mean, do these assets interest Fortis, particularly given they have assets in Hyderabad and Chennai, which Chennai we divested, Hyderabad we do not have a presence? Just trying to get a sense of if you think about the Glen Eagles portfolio, how does that fit into Fortis if at all we were to consider acquiring this asset?
Yes. We are sort of integrating it into our current operation. We expect that in future, we would be evaluating and seeing how we can integrate this and merge the Fortis operation. Anand has stated very clearly that they want to operate as a single platform, which is Fortis.
Understood. At the moment, the O&M, I mean, we just have a share in revenue, right? There is nothing that we capture from an improvement in profitability if at all that were to be evident in the next, let's say, few quarters?
At the moment, that is the arrangement, but we expect that to change in future.
Okay. Understood. My second question is on the hospital profitability. I think that two hospitals that have moved to the over 20% margins. This would be Shalimar Bagh. And which other hospital would it be?
I think Jalandhar is one in.
One is Mulund, and another is Jalandhar, of course. Jalandhar is near Mulund.
Mulund. Okay. For the other hospitals, particularly Noida, when should we expect Noida to get to, let's say, the mid-teen profitability? Does it require some investment for us to scale up that unit? Would it take us two, three years to probably improve profitability, or do you see the possibility of that being shortened given we've already been running this unit for 18 months now?
Yeah. Noida, as I mentioned, there is a lot of potential in that unit. That is why we have got into this arrangement. In our view, it will take maybe six more months' time when it starts generating around 15% EBITDA, and then it can be ramped up further in line with our other big units in the NCR. I will say six months' time definitely will be required to put things in line. There is some investment required, which we will be doing in the medical equipment and enhancing the clinical tenant. All those work will be requiring three to six months' time, and then we can see some improvement. Already, we are seeing after Fortis taking over, the revenue has already been showing some sign of improvement as compared to the earlier period.
Understood. Sorry, one last question. If I were to strip out the Noida and Jalandhar acquisitions or O&M converting to lease, the organic bed addition has been about 100 bed-150 beds. Would that be a right number?
150, 150. One year-two year , approximately about 150. That's right.
No, for the first half, no. I was looking at the first half because there was about 200 bed addition that we saw in first quarter. And then I see another 400. If I were to strip out first half, both of them, then it is about 100 beds organic addition in first half?
No, Neha. In the first half, when we mentioned that we've added an operational bed capacity of close to 550 beds, Jalandhar, the current operational status is about 190 beds. Greater Noida is about 170. That means we've added close to about 200 beds from an operational perspective in H1 of FY 2026.
Okay. And second, so we still maintain the full year addition of about 400 beds-500 beds?
That's correct. Yes, that's correct.
Okay. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Shyam Srinivasan from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. Just the first one on hospital top-line growth. We have done like 18%-19% for the first half. How should we look at the second half? Maybe the base is a little less favorable, but just want to understand, can we maintain some of this momentum into the second half as well?
Yeah. Typically, Shyam, we have seen that H1, H2 remains almost at similar levels. There is no reason for us to believe that it is going to be inferior in any ways. However, having said that, quarter three, you could expect a little bit of dip because of the seasonal impact of festivals and holidays. The fourth quarter is typically better. Though the base is enhanced, we still expect that we could see a similar trend going in H2 as well.
Understood. Dr. Raghuvanshi, if we could break it down into volume growth, like maybe even occupied beds growth, a large part of our growth is coming from volumes, right? Given that we have higher beds versus last year, that is what is giving us the comfort that this mandate can sustain.
Yeah. Shyam, we are expecting around 5%-6% ARPOB growth even in the second half. Balance is all the volume growth. It is primarily coming from the bed addition as we have witnessed. Apart from bed addition, there is a lot of daycare procedures and these robotic surgeries, and those things are also factored in while calculating the ARPOB. ARPOB increase is not like price increase, which I'm saying in all the calls. Price increase will be around 1%-1.5%. Balance is all because of the mix change, the robotic surgeries, because of the daycare, and those types of things are contributing to the ARPOB increase.
Got it. That's helpful. Just second question is on the margin profile. So we had our margin guidance going from 20.5%-22.5%. Any change to that given that in the first half, we have probably done better on hospital margins? Could you elaborate on that, please?
Yeah. In first half, definitely, we have beaten our own estimates on the margin improvement. We expect we will continue to do better on the margin expansion side as our units are becoming matured. There will be further improvement in the margin, like Manesar has already become EBITDA positive. We are having a lot of upside in the Greater Noida facilities. Plus, the ramp up of the capacities where we have just installed, like Noida, Faridabad, there is some capacity we will be adding in the second half. All those things should add to the margin improvement thing. I think there is a possibility we can see higher margin improvement than what we have guided at the beginning of the year. To quantify, it will be a bit difficult.
Yeah. I was going to go there, but okay. Thank you. Thank you and all the best. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Raghav Goyal from Axis Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity and great set of numbers. My first question is related to Manesar facility. What is the current revenue for this quarter for Manesar and ARPOB and occupancy trend? Coming to the patient inflow, are we seeing the patient inflow from the catchment area, or it's just Fortis network referral?
It is a mix of all. I think Manesar is doing quite okay in terms of revenue ramp-up and the profitability side also. As I mentioned earlier, this unit has achieved the EBITDA positive thing. It is less than one year we are able to achieve it. That is a good part about this. There is a lot of impediment which was pending earlier we could have completed. We expect the ramp-up should be quite smooth. We expect to open more beds in the second half and ramp up quite fast. I think Manesar, we should see some further improvement in the revenue, and that will lead to higher EBITDA margin contribution to the overall category.
What is the quarter run rate for Manesar this quarter?
It is around INR 40 crore per quarter. We expect it to grow around 20%.
My second question is related to CGHS, which is revised rate. I mean, are you seeing any traction from the CGHS patient or any competitive from the other private hospital? Are they trying to panel with the CGHS?
Yeah. So our contribution in CGHS is there. And there is a positive, I will say not positive, mixed impact because of these rate changes. Because on one side, there are many procedures which have been where the price has gone up. At the same time, there is a lot of clarity required in the way the circular has come. We are still evaluating that. However, looking like overall, there will be positive impact. There is drug price impact on the oncodrugs. Then there is very little clarity on the super specialty things, how it will be working and things like that. All those clarity we are seeking. Once we have full clarity, we will be able to give you more precise things. At present, it is looking like positive.
As regarding, we are almost operating at 70% occupancy, and there is very little room to accommodate further patient, actually. So we are actually focusing more on building new capacities and accommodate more patient in our network.
Okay. Thank you. That's all from my side.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Abdulkader Puranwala from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yes, [Ashutosh]. Thank you for the opportunity. With our occupancy now in Singapore consistently about 70%, where should we see this occupancy on the existing bed setup in the next couple of years? The second one on the debt. What are our plans to retire this debt, and by when should we see FY 2025 levels coming back?
Yeah. Occupancy, first on the occupancy side, we are at 70%-71%. Most of the hospital, we are operating at a very optimal occupancy level. There are a couple of hospitals where there is scope for improvement in the occupancy, and there we are concentrating more. I will say there is a little bit improvement. Having said that, there is more capacity coming in the second half. I will say occupancy will remain in this range above 70% but below 75% type of number. As regard to your other question on debt, we are very comfortable at the current debt level. It is less than one time. Company is generating healthy cash flow with the current operations. We are plugging that cash flow back into the system for the CapEx, for the growth, and for the quality equipment.
I think we are not very much worried currently on the debt level. If we are unable to do certain growth thing through acquisition, I think this debt level will come down in two years' time to zero level, which is not a desirable position for me, actually. We want to have more growth with this type of leverage.
Understood. Sir, I had one more question on the diagnostic side. I mean, if you look at this quarter per se, our number of tests has grown only 2%. Any broad color if you could provide on how should we see the diagnostic business revenue growth moving into the second half and next year?
This quarter, there has been a slight dip in the volume, mainly because we had the Ama Admi Mohalla clinics business , which was there until June 30, 2023. This is not there in this quarter. That is why there is a dip in the volumes because, as you know, that business was very high on volumes. That is the major change that you see. Also, in this quarter, the usual surge in vector-borne diseases has not been very significant considering the elongated monsoon season. That also has some impact on the overall volumes.
Sir, any color as to how we move into next year? What is the targeted volume growth we may have for the business?
We'll not be able to comment on this at this point of time, but I feel that we are going in a positive direction in terms of both margins as well as growth compared to where we were earlier.
Okay, sir. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Raman KV from Sequent Investments. Please go ahead.
Hello sir. Thank you for the opportunity. I just have two questions. One is, what's your current stake in Agilus post the recent acquisition?
89%, Raman.
Are you planning to increase it to 100, or are you okay with this 89%?
We are comfortable with this stake. If the opportunity comes, as I said, we have a priority for investment in the hospital business. If the opportunity comes, this stake can also be absorbed with the current balance sheet and maybe our fundraising plan in future.
Understood, sir. My second question is, with respect to your diagnostic business, your average realization per patient and average realization per test has increased year- on- year and quarter on quarter despite quarter- on- quarter very low volume growth. Can you comment on that? Is it like did you take any price hike or something?
No. We have not taken any price hike during this year. What has actually happened is one is our increased focus on wellness portfolio where there are a lot of packages. Because of the higher ticket size, you are seeing a higher average revenue per acquisition or average revenue per patient. Also, as I was discussing earlier, we had the Aam Aadmi Mohalla clinics business in the earlier quarters as well as the previous year, which was high on volume but low in ticket size. That has an impact overall on both the volumes as well as the average revenue per patient. That is the only difference.
This Aam Aadmi Mohalla clinics , will it be there in the subsequent quarter, or have you discontinued the business?
We have discontinued [audio disortion] from 30th of June.
Okay. Thank you, sir.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Atul Menocha, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. My question is, is there any delay on SMRI capacity addition in terms of the project execution? Because what I observed is earlier, the capacity addition was coming in the last quarter of this year, but I think it has moved as per the presentation. I just want to get some understanding around that. Thank you.
Yeah. So we had originally planned it for the operationalization by the third quarter, end of third quarter. There is a delay of about three months. Now we expect to commission it by March end. Obviously, it will go into the next financial year.
Okay. Thank you. If I can ask another question, am I permitted to ask another one?
Yeah. Absolutely.
Yeah. So my next question is with respect to this international patient flow, how is it shaping up in terms of the capabilities which we are building? If you can throw some light on that.
It has increased by 26% year- on- year. Overall, the international business constitutes about 8% of our business. We expect it to remain more or less at the same level, but in absolute terms, it will continue to grow in double digits.
Oh, thank you, sir. Thank you. Appreciate it.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Madhav from Fidelity. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning. Thank you so much for your time once again. Just wanted to check on our bed addition plan. This year, I think you said we can add about 400+ beds organically. Given the brownfield pipeline we have, what could that addition look like in FY 2027, and which facilities will be commissioned beds in the next fiscal?
Yes. Next fiscal, as Dr. Raghuvanshi mentioned in the earlier question, major bed addition will be coming from the FMRI bed addition, where we will be adding 225 beds. There will be another, say, 70 beds we may add at one of our facilities in Kolkata. There will be ramp-up where we will be opening more beds in Manesar and maybe Bangalore, where some bed capacity is there. That will be the major capacity addition in the next financial year.
Next year as well, we could be closer to about 400+ beds in terms of addition organically?
Yeah. It will be around 300-400 range.
Okay. Got it. The SMRI facility for us, it's currently running at what occupancy?
Around 85% occupancy.
Okay. So this should be absorbed fairly quickly, right, the new beds once they commission?
We expect so.
Got it. Hacheth, the second question was on the hospital margins. I think we've kind of indicated that we wanted to get to the 25% EBITDA margin. Now that we are probably closer to, I don't know, maybe 23, like you said, we could be higher than the guidance. Do you think there's a chance for us to kind of do that a bit faster, or do you think we could be above 25% as well in the hospital business in the next few years?
Yeah. The pace at which our facility is ramping up, I think the target is not very far away. I will put it that way. I will not like to give any definitive timeline, but yeah, next couple of years, it is definitely looking like we are reaching there.
Got it. In terms of inorganic opportunities, are we looking at more such opportunities like the Jalandhar bolt-on that we did earlier this year? Can there be more such opportunities which you are evaluating?
Yeah. We are always keen to look for such facilities and such opportunities. As Vivek was saying earlier, that with the healthy balance sheet, we have the capacity to absorb some more. So we do keep looking at it. However, we are very disciplined about the valuation as well as the geographical synergy with our existing clusters and our focus geographies.
Understood. Great. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kritika Damani from Prospera Financial Solutions. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Congratulations on a strong quarter. I wanted to understand the bridge between top line and profitability. Revenue grew 5% sequentially, and EBITDA was nearly 50%, which implies a sharp improvement in the operational leverage. Could you elaborate on what specifically drove this? Was it a better efficiency mix or the higher ARPOB or improved utilization, or simply stronger cost discipline across facilities? Do you see this operating leverage sustaining as more capacities like Manesar and Jalandhar scale up?
Yeah. It is mainly to do with the operational efficiency, which naturally come if we are able to achieve higher occupancy, and we ramp up our existing hospital in a better way. As I mentioned earlier, there are two, three hospitals where still there is a scope for better occupancy, and there is a ramp-up possibility in our Greater Noida and Manesar facility. All these are further opportunities that will be giving us better margin and overall EBITDA margin may go up.
All right. Thank you. Also, the EMR and the HOS rollouts have always been an important part of Fortis's modernization journey. Beyond the clinical documentation benefits, have these digital systems started showing measurable productivity improvements like reduction in patient turnaround time or better cost tracking? Also, how far have we come having a unified digital backbone across the network?
Yeah. So our rollout of EMR is still ongoing. There are about four hospitals where the IP modules have already been implemented, but it is still work in progress. I think we will take till the end of this year, the financial year, to implement the entire EMR. Of course, we are seeing differences in patient satisfaction, and service levels are definitely improving, but it's currently not really measurable. Once we have the entire implementation, then we would look at that. We are also in the process of improving our patient app, which also has a component of a doctor's app as well, which makes the patient journey seamless. We are coming up with a new version of that as well using the latest technology.
All right. Thank you. That was very helpful.
Thank you. The next follow-up question is from the line of Shyam Srinivasan from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Thank you for taking the follow-up. Vivek sir, just on that CGHS again, you said there are some prices increases have gone up. Is there some quantum, like an average number for us to look at? Also, there was some euphoria around CGHS after a long time, 10 years-15 years maybe. Now you seem a little more cautious. What are these additional requirements that are still keeping us a little on the sidelines? You do not look like you want to increase your CGHS exposure. I am just trying to understand, is there anything specific in that? I know it is a long document, and people are still trying to figure out, but what is the hesitancy?
There is always a sort of hesitancy, Sam, because of the non-predictability about the payment. Okay? It is always a question mark when the money will be coming, the deductions, and all those stuff, and suddenly some circulars come which change the entire equation completely. Obviously, that's why it makes this payer less attractive. Having said that, in almost all of our hospitals, we are maintaining a decent mix of payers. Our government payer, where this particular CGHS also comes, is generally contributing 18%-20% of our total overall revenue. I think with the expansion which we are doing and with the new hospitals and things like that, I think this ratio will maintain. This is a welcome step where CGHS has shown some increase after a long period of time.
As I mentioned earlier, we are just evaluating because a lot of new things have come into this, and there are certain restrictions also in that form of drugs use and things like that. We are trying to absorb this and trying to understand more, engaging with the CGHS official how it will be impacting us. Looking like it will be a positive impact. That much I can tell you.
Got it. Currently, it only impacts 4% of your revenues, right? The government PCU 8%, ECHS 7.5%. That is a subsequent step. Is it usually coincidental in the sense after CGHS, three months later, you get to negotiate the others, or how has it worked historically?
Generally, this government panel moves in tandem. I think we may expect some similar type of things from the ECHS and some of the PSUs, which also follows CGHS rate. Sometimes it is automatic also because the agreement says it is linked to CGHS rate. That way, it will be having a positive impact. The impact will be similar for almost all the government. ECHS yet to come out with the circular, but we are expecting that also.
There is no quantification, right? 10% higher, 12% higher, 15% higher, anything like an average number of what the rates are higher at?
Give us some time. Till date, whatever calculation I have seen, there are a lot of questions are more than the answers. That's why I'm not giving you those things.
Okay. Understood. Sir, last question. Yeah. Last question. I know there is an open offer. December is probably the timeline. I know it's not a question to you, but more to your parent. What are some of the other legal things that have now opened up following the SEBI approval? Is there anything that is stopping us now? Some of the legal expenses that were there for us in our P&L, is that now going to zero? I noticed some legal expense in diagnostics, INR 10 million. I'm just saying, how should we look at that piece for us? I don't know whether you can comment on the open offer, but yeah.
Yeah. The open offer is closed as of yesterday. The IHS has already made the announcements regarding that. The open offer is behind us now. Legal fees are definitely going to reduce, but it will certainly not become zero because we still have the High Court case, and we also have certain proceedings which the company has initiated against the ex-promoters for recovery of the monies which they owe to the company. Those proceedings will continue to go on for some time. Other than that, most of the other legal issues are behind us. As you are aware, that brand issue is also resolved. We have owned the brand, and we registered with us. We own the SRL brand as well now and the Fortis brand as well.
Other than that, we also have done the scheme of sort of restructuring, which I would request Vivek to share a little bit about.
Yeah. So there is a, as you know, when we have acquired this RST asset, we have acquired the company. So the structure was still alive. One entity is paying BT fees to another entity, business trust fees to the other entity, the asset-owning entity. That was creating a sort of imbalance and operational inefficiencies. We have filed a scheme, and now all those units are, barring a few which are in the pipeline, around three, all the units are the operating entity and the asset-owning entity are one. There will not be two entities. That will save a lot of operational hassle.
Plus, we are also trying to now simplify the organizational structure where there are multiple entities which we are trying to reduce. All those things will add one on the simplicity and second to the compliance cost. That initiative is on. The Agilus also, we are trying to do a similar thing where three operating entities are having the diagnostic business.
Is there any quantification on any of the legal expenses? I know it's not going to zero, but that will be helpful as well. Thank you.
It will not be zero. Like earlier, we were incurring around INR 30 crore-40 crore annually. Now I expect it will come down to 50% of that amount. Okay? Or maybe lower. It all depends on the number of hearings we have to do and things like that. It all will be depending on that, but it has come down substantially.
Helpful. Thank you. All the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ritika Kandelwal from Purpity Ventures. Please go ahead.
Hi. I just wanted to add on the government. What will be the.[audio distortion]
Ladies and gentlemen, the line for the management has been disconnected. Please stay connected while we join them. Ladies and gentlemen, the line for the management has been connected. Ritika Kandelwal, please proceed with your question.
Yeah. What are your government receivable days? Just wanted to continue on the question of CGHS and ECHS.
Yeah. Generally, it is around 180 days we are getting the money.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Anurag Kalra for closing comments. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Sutali, I think we had one more question that came at the last minute. Is it possible to take that gentleman now?
Sure, sir. The next question is from the line of Justin George, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the opportunity. In our portfolio, we got around 33 hospitals. In these 33 hospitals, FMRI, Mohali, and Ludhiana are Greenfield hospitals. All other hospitals have been acquired, and now we are doing brownfield responders. Do we have any plan for new Greenfield hospitals?
Yeah. We are open to doing Greenfield hospitals as well. In our portfolio, Noida, Shalimar Bagh also were Greenfield hospitals, actually. They were not acquired, but we are open to doing Greenfields. As and when some appropriate opportunity comes, we will certainly look at that.
All right. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Anurag Kalra for closing comments. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you so much, ladies and gentlemen, for joining us on the call today. If there are any follow-up questions or information requests, please reach out to my colleague [Amit] or myself. We'll help you as best possible. Thank you very much again for your time, and have a good day.
On behalf of Fortis Healthcare Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us today, and you may now disconnect your lines.