Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Fortis Healthcare Limited Q3 FY 2026 Earnings Conference Call. As a reminder, all participant lines 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 this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Anurag Kalra, the Head of Investor Relations, for the opening remarks. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Alaric. A very good morning, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Fortis Healthcare's Quarter Three FY 2026 Earnings Call. The call is being led by our MD & CEO, Dr. Ashutosh Raghuvanshi. With him, we have our Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Vivek Goyal. From Agilus Diagnostics, Mr. Anand, the CEO, joins us. Along with him, we have Mr. Akshay Tiwari, the CFO. We will start with some opening comments by Dr. Raghuvanshi, post which Anand will take you through the highlights of the diagnostics business, and then we can open the floor for question and answers. Over to Dr. Raghuvanshi, sir.
Thank you, Anurag. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to join us on our Q3 Financial Year 2026 Earnings Call Today. I wish you all a Happy New Year, and hope all of you are doing well. I shall dive right into the quarterly results and my thoughts on the business performance and way forward. Our business performance in Q3 has been good, considering the seasonal impact of festivals in some of our key geographies. Both our hospitals and diagnostic businesses witnessed a sustained growth momentum and delivered margin expansion compared to the corresponding quarter last year. For the quarter, our consolidated revenues were at INR 2,265 crores, registering a growth of 17.5% over the corresponding previous period.
Our hospital business revenues grew 19.4% to INR 1,938 crores, while the diagnostic business net revenue reported a growth of 7.3% to INR 327 crores. Our consolidated operating EBITDA increased 34.8% to INR 505 crores, which translates into a margin of 22.3 crores, 22.3%, in quarter three financial year 2026 versus 19.4% in quarter three of financial year 2025. The hospital business operating EBITDA margin have improved from 20% in quarter three of 2025 to 21.7% in quarter three of financial year 2026, with an EBITDA of INR 420 crores.
Our consolidated profit before tax, before exceptional item for the quarter increased 21.9% to INR 312 crores. Reported PAT stood at INR 197 crore versus 250 crore in quarter three of 2025. The decline in PAT was primarily due to the one-off expense for the quarter, INR 55 crore pertaining to new labor codes, offset by a reversal of impairment in an associate company amounting to INR 9 crores. This resulted in net exceptional loss of INR 46 crores. Coming to the nine-month performance of financial year 2026, our consolidated revenue stood at INR 6,763 crores, registering a growth of 17.1% versus nine months of financial year 2025.
Operating EBITDA increased to INR 1,553 crore, reflecting a robust 300 basis point improvement to 23%, compared to 20% in the corresponding previous period. Hospital business revenue for nine months grew 19.1% to INR 5,749 crore, while the operating margin improved from 22.2, from 20% to 22.2% in the corresponding previous period. On the balance sheet front, the company's net debt stands at INR 2,547 crore, with a net debt of, to EBITDA of 1.24x as on 31 December 2025. As due to the fund raise, on to part finance the acquisition of the stake in Agilus Diagnostics by the company, acquisition of Fortis brand and trademark, and acquisition of Shrimann Hospital, Jalandhar.
I'm pleased to announce that we continue to progress well on our cluster-based inorganic growth strategy. To that effect, in January 2026, we acquired the 125-bedded People Tree Hospital in Yeshwantpur, Bengaluru, for INR 430 crore. This was done through a 100% acquisition of TMI Healthcare Private Limited, along with the underlying land, building, and an adjacent land parcel that enables future expansion to over 300 beds within the same location. With growing awareness on mental health in November 2025, the company launched Adayu, a 36-bedded specialized mental health care facility located in Gurugram. This facility offers evidence-based treatment through a multidisciplinary approach to deliver comprehensive, compassionate, and world-class care. Our bed expansion plans are progressing well.
During the year so far, we have added approximately 750 operational beds, including the Bangalore acquisition and the Adayu facility. The bed addition also accounts for our Jalandhar acquisition, Greater Noida lease facility, and expansion in our existing facilities, including Manesar, Noida, and Faridabad. A bit of flavor on the hospital business. Our hospital occupancy in Q3 financial year 2026 remains steady at 67% compared to the same period last year. However, the number of occupied beds increased 14% to 3,189 beds in Q3, from 2,790 beds in Q3 of financial year 2025. Our hospital business recorded a 4.5% increase in ARPOB, reaching INR 2.56 crores per annum.
The growth in ARPOB was supported by increased share of complex cases, reflected in, for instance, a 52% year-on-year increase in robotic surgeries. Just to provide all of you a perspective of the hospital business for nine months of financial year 2026, in 13 of our facilities, we have reported operating EBITDA above 20% during this period, and these 13 facilities together contribute 77% of the hospital revenues. In comparison, in 2025, we had 10 of our facilities with operating EBITDA margin above 20% and contributing 73% of the hospital revenue. Revenues from digital channels, this, the website, mobile application, and digital campaigns witnessed a 19% year-on-year growth. Digital revenues contributed approximately 30% to overall hospital revenues in Q3 of financial year 2026. Coming to the diagnostic business front, we continue to witness year-on-year improvement in top line and margins.
Gross revenue grew 8.3% to INR 371 crores from INR 342 crores in Q3 of financial year 2025. Operating EBITDA margin gross revenue stood at 23.1% versus 14.4% in Q3 of financial year 2025. On a like-for-like basis, excluding one-offs, the operating EBITDA margin stood at 21.3% in Q3 of financial year 2025, as against 23.1% in Q3 of financial year 2026. As part of our ongoing network expansion strategy, the total number of new customer touchpoints has reached 4,370 as of 31 December 2025. The revenue contribution from preventive portfolio has increased to 12% in Q3, from 10% in Q3 of 25.
While the contribution from specialized portfolio has increased to 35% from 33% in the corresponding previous quarter. We believe our diagnostic business is further positioned to scale its revenue while sustaining healthy margins. With this, I conclude my remarks. Our business remains on track to maintain this growth trajectory. We continue to make strong progress across our strategic growth levers, which we expect will drive sustainable growth and further strengthen our positions in the healthcare sector. With that, I hand over to Anand for his comments.
Thank you, Dr. Raghuvanshi. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. On behalf of Agilus Diagnostics, I'm pleased to welcome you all to our Q3 2026 results conference call. During the quarter, Agilus reported gross revenues of INR 371 crores compared to INR 342 crores in the Q3 of FY 2025, reflecting an 8.3% year-on-year growth. Operating EBITDA stood at INR 86 crores, a substantial improvement from INR 49 crores last year, with margins at 23.1% compared to 14.4% in Q3 of 2025. We conducted 9.9 million tests during the quarter, up from 9.6 million in the same quarter last year, reflecting 3.6% volume growth. Our B2C, B2B mix stood at 52-48, indicating balanced traction across both the channels.
We also strengthened our network through gross additions of over 175 customer touchpoints, further improving accessibility across markets. For the nine months period ending December 2025, revenues stood at INR 1,139 crores, up by 7.7% from INR 1,058 crores last year, while operating EBITDA rose to INR 275 crores from INR 185 crores. EBITDA margins improved to 24.1% from 17.5% in the same period last year. During the nine-month period, we conducted 30.7 million tests against 29.6 million tests last year, supported by gross additions of 500+ customer touchpoints across our network. We also expanded our network footprint meaningfully, adding 8 stat labs and 9 HLMs, strengthening accessibility and coverage across both focus cities and emerging micro markets.
Growth across geographies and product lines remains well distributed, with routine, specialized, and wellness portfolios all contributing to the momentum. Our preventive health and wellness portfolio continues to perform well, contributing around 12% to the overall mix, supported by growing customer adoption of preventive panels and corporate wellness offerings. The segment remains an important long-term growth driver, aided by the rising health awareness across the markets. This quarter, we strengthened our test portfolio with the introduction of CNS Biopsy with Reflex to IHC, enhancing our capability and capacity in neuro-oncology diagnostics. The RA Extended Panel, offering a more comprehensive assessment for autoimmune disorders, and the Acute Leukemia Panel, which supports faster and more targeted classification of hematological malignancies.
Our continued investments in automation, digital tracking, and workflow optimization have strengthened efficiency, turnaround times, and customer experience, alongside steady expansion in our specialized and genomics offerings. Additionally, we also installed the Illumina NovaSeq X at our global reference laboratory in Mumbai, significantly scaling our NGS capabilities in genomics and proteomics. This enables high-throughput sequencing across oncology, infectious diseases, reproductive health, and rare disease diagnostics. Overall, the Q3 reflects a notable year-on-year improvement in growth, both growth and profitability, supported by disciplined execution, network expansion, and operational enhancements. We remain positive about the opportunities ahead and remain committed to delivering consistent, high-quality growth. Thank you, and over to Anurag.
Thank you, Anand. Ladies and gentlemen, we shall now open the floor for question and answers. May I please request the moderator to begin?
Thank you, sir.
Thank you, sir.
We will now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone 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. Our first question comes from the line of Neha Manpuria from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for taking my question. The first question is on the PeopleTree acquisition in Bangalore. How should we think about this facility? Because it's just a 190-bed facility, I think it's not fully ramped up now. So, you know, how should we think about three years in this facility and it moving to, let's say, mid-20s margin, and would it require additional investment, you know, to get to that mid-20% margin?
Yes, Neha. So we have this facility, as Vivek had said earlier, it's running suboptimally at the moment. So it needs to be brought to Fortis standards. It would require some investment in that regard. The investment in the first phase is not very huge, but at the same time, we are also going to expand, start the expansion work for creating further beds so that the capacity can be taken to 300 beds. And that would entail some CapEx, both in medical equipment as well as the civil infrastructure. So over the next three to four years, we should see this as a high-end, 300 bedded super specialty hospital with all the modalities of treatment available.
Mr. Raghuvanshi, Dr. Raghuvanshi, this, the 300-bed that you're talking about, so currently it's at 190 beds, and then you have the land, adjacent land, which allows you to add more capacity. So essentially, we'll build out that, the new capacity in the adjacent land. Is that how we get to this 300 number?
That's right. That's right. We will, we will be starting the construction pretty soon.
Okay. And, in terms of, you know, doctors, et cetera, you know, hiring doctors, because Bangalore is another market which we are seeing a fair bit of, you know, capacity coming onboard. So how do you think we're positioned to get, let's say, a full-fledged doctor team for a multi-specialty hospital that we plan?
Yeah, I think we are very positive about it. I think Fortis carries a good brand, and it attracts physicians from in all different regions, and I don't see any challenge in that regard. Our experience of another hospital, which we had opened in Nagarbhavi and ramping it up, though, in t hat was also about a 100-bedded hospital. And that is, by the way, currently doing EBITDA close to upwards of 25%. So, we are pretty confident that we can attract good clinical talent in this micro market.
Understood. My second question is on the expansion. If I were to strip out all the acquisitions we have done, including Noida, from the 750, I think the organic bed addition this year has been closer to about, you know, 250 odd beds, 250, 300 beds. What would this number be next year? And other than the 200 beds in FMRI, you know, what would be the other large acquisition other large expansions that we should look at in fiscal 2027, 2028?
Yeah, Neha, Vivek this side. So, you are right, till first nine months, we could add 250 brownfield beds. There are some beds in pipeline for Noida, and that will further add 60 beds, maybe probably in this current financial year. And next year, we can target around 400+ beds in the brownfield, which majorly contributed by FMRI, because expansion is almost ready. We are planning to commission by Jan by April.
Understood. And again, sorry to hop on to your doctor point, given that, you know, we have two other large hospitals that will be coming very close to, you know, where FMRI is. You know, I mean, is the doctor team fully equipped for this additional 200-bed that we will add? Or, is that something, you know, we need to spruce up some specialty, and you could see more doctor hiring for that?
No, no, we, doctor hiring is something which is an ongoing process, and that keeps happening. But the current physicians only will be able to utilize this capacity very effectively, because occupancy rates of this hospital have been typically high, around it has been operating at 80% occupancy levels. So we are pretty confident that, we have the clinical wherewithal, and, we have a very stable clinical team.
All right. I have a couple of more questions, but I'll get back in the queue. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Tausif from BNP Paribas Exane Research. Please go ahead.
Thanks for the opportunity. First few questions on the O&M agreement with Gleneagles. Can you call out the O&M fees for this quarter? And how has been the performance of Gleneagles for last nine months? And also, where do we stand currently on the inclusion of Bombay Hospital in O&M, in the O&M agreement?
Yeah. So, we are in the integration phase for O&M. As you know, this has been started this quarter only. So we have earned INR 5 crore as O&M fees in the current quarter. And, the revenue for this quarter for the Excluding Bombay? Excluding Bombay, INR 172 crore, and EBITDA is almost 3% after absorbing 3% fees to us. So that means this will be around 6%.
What would have been the growth in nine months?
Very much in the initial stage. Sorry.
Yeah, and what would have been the growth for nine months of Gleneagles? Revenue growth.
Nine months growth is actually negative for the unit we are looking at. It is almost 4% negative. And there are a lot of disturbance. There are clinician attrition, management team has also been changed. So all those action has been taken. I think we will start seeing the result probably from the next financial year onward.
Okay, that's helpful. Second follow-up question on the recent acquisition in Bengaluru. Can you tell us when do you plan to commercialize the adjacent land beds, additional beds? Is it something one can look at in the next 18 months, or is a plan for beyond 2028, FY 2028?
So it will be like a sort of a brownfield expansion like we do in our facility, which typically takes 24-30 months time, and Bangalore is a slightly difficult location, and that's why I'm saying 30 months time, because approval generally take more time. But we will start the work immediately on that.
It's something beyond FY 2028, one should look at it?
Yes. But in the meantime
Thanks.
We will operationalize and bring operational efficiency in the existing beds.
Thanks. I have a few more questions. I'll get back in the queue.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Aman Goyal from Axis Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. So my question is related to, since we are experiencing in the aggressive expansion in the NCR region, so to maintain our clinical talent in the region, are we seeing any, higher MGs for these marquee, hospitals or doctors, or, are there any revised revenue shared over the last 12 months?
So, I will say this is an ongoing process, as Dr. Raghuvanshi mentioned. This pull and push always remain, and we need to correct sometime, you know, the salary, the remuneration and take, take out of the doctors. And that will be more than compensated by the revenue growth. As we know, company is in the growth phase, so little bit increase may not be affecting our margin that much.
Okay. Sir, my next question is related to the Manesar facility. If you could throw some color on the revenue, occupancy trends, and all?
Yeah. So, Manesar has started getting INR 15 crore per month revenue, and, EBITDA side, it has already start contributing positive EBITDA. So that way, Manesar is good story for us. And, I think, here onward, it will start contributing more. We are starting the, we have already started the work for onco block, and, that will further add to the profitability of this unit.
Sir, the EBITDA margin is in the single digit, or, if you could throw some on the EBITDA contribution in terms of percentage-wise, where is the facility for-
Very minimal, as I said, it is just breakeven.
Okay.
It is just started, earlier than.
Sir, my last question is on related to the. Are you operating any facility above 80-85%, and we are still evaluating the opportunity for the brownfield expansion?
Yeah, sometimes our unit hit 80%, like Shalimar Bagh is one example, which very often hits 80% occupancy, and we have planned for expansion. We have got all the approval now, and we will start work for the Shalimar Bagh immediately.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. That's all from my side, sir.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Sanjay Shah from KSA Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good morning, gentlemen. Thanks for opportunity, and congrats on the great numbers. So my question was regarding we see many new players are entering via asset light or PE-backed model. So how are we prepared? How does Fortis differentiate itself? Is it in a clinical depth or doctors' ecosystem? How Fortis differentiate itself?
Yeah. So I think one of the major differentiation is in terms of the kind of infrastructure we're able to provide, and there's a legacy of the institution, and there is an environment which is very conducive for clinicians to be able to practice effectively, and that's what probably makes us attractive. And we have a lot of involvement of physicians in clinical governance and broad policymaking as well. So that makes them feel included, and that's what makes it attractive for them to be a part of us.
So my second question was regarding our international patient revenue, which is growing steadily, and how scalable is this segment? And what investments is required, to meaningfully grow in double digits from here?
Yeah. So I mean, the percentage of revenue, this has been stable at about 8%-9%, and somewhere as total revenue percentage, it has remained in that level, and it is likely to remain in that level. Because, the international traffic is subject to so many other geopolitical situations which are continuously evolving right now. So, I think one cannot really bank on that, but what we are doing is that we are focusing on newer markets, especially the West, the East Africa and also a little bit on onto the Middle East and Central Asia. So those are the geographies which we are focusing on. We are doing direct marketing there, and opening some information centers in these geographies to increase this business.
Thank you, sir. Very helpful. Best of luck, sir. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Karan Vora from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for taking my question. My first question is with respect to Gleneagles. So I think we highlighted the INR 5 crore number we booked, but is that the full quarters number, or we were only able to, you know, book a part of it? So if you can clarify on that one.
Yeah, it is almost full quarter, Karan, because we have started this in July, somewhere mid-July, so it is almost full.
Got it. And it will be included in our RPOP number, as in this will help improve our RPOP numbers as well, right? Just from a calculation standpoint.
Yes, yes, you are right.
Okay, got it. And the, for Gleneagles, like, I think, we've highlighted some of the challenges, but can you, you know, elaborate more on the challenges we are facing, at Gleneagles, at individual hospitals, and what are we trying to, you know, to tackle those challenges, going forward?
So I will say there are a specific challenge for each facility, and it is not common for all. So there are, but all the hospital looking like, have good potential. For example, Chennai facility, there are a lot of potential. There is expansion plan, but I think execution is the problem. And there, last year was totally disturbed year, and I think as I said, next year onward, it will start showing results.
Similarly, Hyderabad, there are two facility, and one is Lakdikapul, and another is LB Nagar. And LB Nagar is also there are a lot of potential. We are putting cancer there, cancer facility there. Lakdikapul is having a space constraint, and we are trying to tackle that problem separately. And, as regard Bangalore, there are two facility, Kengeri and one small facility. And I think Kengeri is doing quite okay, but that other small hospital is a lot of work needs to be done.
Got it. Like, the same management team, which operates the broader, you know, Fortis hospitals or which looks after the broader hospitals, will be taking care of this, or we have hired any regional or some second layer of management which will look after this to fix all the issues at Gleneagles?
Yeah. So this essentially falls into our larger structure. So the, of course, we will have to strengthen it at the regional level, as you said. So we have made some changes in some of the leaderships at hospital level. At the same time, we have appointed one or two people on the regional level as well. But the Bangalore cluster, for example, reports to the Bangalore cluster head, who looks after the other Fortis hospitals. So similarly, we have positioned everything into our common structure of Fortis.
Okay, got it. And last question is with respect to, you know, FY 2027 guidance, so now that we are, you know, almost close to end of FY 2026, and we've pretty much meet or beat our, you know, guidance. So any qualitative color, do you think a 20% kind of a top line growth is possible for FY 2027? And, you know, can margins improve, say, 150 basis points more, or any color around that will be helpful.
Yeah. So I will say the, you have seen that, the company is in the growth trajectory, and it is also showing improvement in the margin. We feel there is still scope for margin improvement, especially with the brownfield expansion. We have discussed the, one of the, question on the next year brownfield expansion, and that, brownfield is coming in one of our premier facility, FMRI. So we expect the margin. You will continue to see the growth trajectory, what we are seeing in the current financial year, at least for two years.
Any, any number or range you can throw, if possible?
It will be very difficult to give a specific number. You can understand.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Vivek Agrawal from Citigroup Global Services. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. So just want to understand, as far as the hospital business is concerned, if you can break down what is the growth in existing units and how much has been contributed from the new units. Thank you.
Yeah. So the acquisition, which we have done, the Jalandhar and this Greater Noida, that has contributed around 4% of the revenue growth. Balance is all from the existing units.
Understood. And
Existing units.
Right. Understood. And how the margin trajectory looks like for the existing units? So overall margins have been expanded, let's say, around 170 basis points. But in the existing units, how you think, how the margins have panned out?
Yeah, so existing unit also, so, major benefit is coming from the existing unit for the margin expansion. So it is majorly from the existing unit. So because Greater Noida is the new unit, so it is hardly contributing to EBITDA. Actually, it is dragging the margin little bit. Jalandhar, of course, is 25%+ EBITDA margin.
So is it fair to, is it fair to assume that overall margin ex-expansion in the existing units is much better than 170 basis?
Yeah, I have already told about Jalandhar. Jalandhar is start contributing as per our existing flexible hospitals. And Greater Noida is on the, you know, improvement trajectory.
Understood. So one question on institutional patients. So have you started seeing impact of better pricing in ECHS, CGHS, et cetera? And how you see that trend in coming quarters?
Yeah. So we have started seeing the positive result from the CGHS, particularly. ECHS, the circular is new, and there is still some doubts or which need to be cleared, and team is working with the authorities to, you know, get it cleared. But till now, the number is quite positive.
Understood. So one question on debt, right? Now, after the PeopleTree acquisition, the debt is close to around INR 3,000 crore, close to 1.5x of EBITDA. So now, how to look at the company's ability to grow further inorganically, right? Are you flexible enough to take more debt? Let's say you can go to 2.5-3x of EBITDA, or just now onwards, you need to mainly depend on, depend on whatever, for example, greenfield or brownfield plans that are in place. Thank you.
Yeah. First of all, the debt EBITDA number is not that alarming. We have still room to take some more debt for our growth aspirations. Having said that, you might be aware that open offer thing is now settled, and IHH in the public forum has expressed their willingness to increase their stake in the company. So in all probability, there will be equity infusion by IHH, and that will be used for either debt reduction or for growth opportunities.
Thanks. That's from my side.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Kartik Agrawal, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. You have reported a 14.3% increase in OBD. I want to know what is the source of this growth. Is it coming from existing hospitals or new bed addition?
Yeah. So this is partly this is mixture of both, because when we say occupied bed increase, it is increase of bed by in Jalandhar as well as Greater Noida, because earlier these were, these hospitals were not there, and little bit increase in the Adayu also. And rest of the thing is in the in our existing facilities.
Which of the existing facilities did you report this increase in?
So almost all the facilities have shown good ramp-up, Salimar Bagh, FMRI. All our flexible hospital have shown good attraction, except I will say BG Road, which is still struggling, and we are working on how to, you know, improve the occupancy level of BG Road. I will particularly like to mention about Mulund, because earlier we were having Mulund and BG Road in the same category, but Mulund has start operating at 65%+ occupancy level, which is quite encouraging. So I think the next, we have to improve the occupancy level for the BG Road.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Madhav Marda from Fidelity Investments. Please go ahead. Madhav, please go ahead with your question, and kindly unmute yourself in case if you are on mute. Since there is no response from the participant, we will move to the next participant. That is Nikhil Goel, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Hi. First of all, congratulations for a good set of numbers. My questions are two. One is on ARPOB. So our ARPOB is currently INR 2.65 crore. I want to understand what is our target ARPOB, maybe 1-2 years down the line. Are we expecting any increase in it, or are we expecting it to remain flat going forward? The second question is on the distribution of our revenue across the different EBITDA margin buckets that we have. So I have observed over a period of time that some hospitals are consistently under the less than 10% margin range. So are there any actions that we are planning there, either in terms of improvement or in terms of, you know, having them out of the system? Thank you.
Yeah. So ARPOB increase, we are expecting around 4%-5% ARPOB increase going forward also. This year we are trending around this level. I want to clarify that ARPOB increase should not be confused with, you know, price increase. So 4.5% ARPOB increase, 2-2.5% only price increase, and balance is because of the case mix. Majorly coming from the high-end work we are doing, especially in the onco business, where, you know, apart from the IP business, there are a lot of daycare business come, and, as a result of which, you know, the revenue goes up. At the same time, bed remain constant, and this result into the ARPOB increase.
So I am, we are expecting around 4%-5% ARPOB increase going forward for next two years. As regard the distribution of EBITDA for the low EBITDA margin, unit, I will say, all these units are not very big unit except Jaipur and, this, Manesar. Manesar, we have discussed, it is a new unit. I expect this unit to move up in the EBITDA margin, ladder. As well as in Jaipur also, we are considering, other plan for expansion and, and with, with that, we feel that this, unit should also move up in the EBITDA margin, trajectory. Other units are very small, and these units are having their own challenges, and very difficult to correct those challenges.
Thank you, sir, for the details, but just a follow-up question. So as you said, Jaipur is facing challenges, and it is very difficult to correct those challenges. I understand Manesar has a potential to move up the ladder, but Jaipur has been in that bucket for a very long time, and why are we planning an expansion, in a hospital where there are challenges, too, and historically we haven't been able to move it also? Is it because you believe that once scale comes, the margins would improve, or is there something else that you are trying to do there?
So I will say it is a question of strengthening the clinical program. Okay, so Jaipur is missing, you know, onco business very much, and that has resulted into the margin dip. With along with the onco business, there are a lot of business come from to the other specialty also. And it has space, and it has all the, you know, things which which can absorb one onco block there in Jaipur. So we were having the plan for earlier also, but we have put on hold because of the challenge Jaipur has faced last year and so on. And now Jaipur has come back to the original plan, and we will evaluate again that plan.
By when we will have onco installed in Jaipur, if you have any timelines in mind?
So these type of facility takes some time, and generally it is 18-24 months time. So, in the next year budget, we were planning to put something for Jaipur.
Understood, sir. Thank you so much. Just one last question. On the ARPOB, you mentioned that, half of it comes from price and half of it comes from product mix. Going forward also, we are expecting a similar trend, that half of it comes from price and half of it comes from, product mix?
Absolutely.
Great. Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Shaleen from UBS Global. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, sir. Sir, just want to check about you that I t hat, you know, capital is very much needed for our growth, so do we have any sense on the timeline, you know, what could be the potential investment from IHH can come in?
So, as you know, they have just completed the open offer. There is a cooling period. Till then, they cannot go ahead with the further equity infusion. I think that cooling period end by May, and this is a board level, their board level discussion, then our board level discussion on the equity need. As I said, currently, we have, we are in a very comfortable position, but from the management side, we have expressed that we want to create sufficient room in our balance sheet for future expansion. And we feel we are in ideal position looking at, you know, current market dynamic to reap maximum benefit from this current market. So we will, we will like to take that advantage. I think, in three to six months time, we will be having more clarity about the exact timing.
Got it, sir. And, I assume it will be the preference or warrant kind of a thing, right? Given IHH wants to increase the stake, it's not going to be, you know, any other further dilution.
Because earlier there was a restriction for IHH to it's not a restriction, not restriction in real sense, for increasing their stake. With the open offer completed, that restriction has gone, is not, no more there. So as I said, it is a board level decision. We have expressed our desire to have more equity in the balance sheet to create room for further growth, and I think three to six months time, this will be done. You are right, in our estimate also, it will be preference allotment.
Preference. Last slide, sir. I know, it's again, little, maybe a little early, but any sense that what kind of a fund you would like to have it or be comfortable with when you're looking for such kind of a raise?
Yeah. So, very difficult to give number. We will like to have at least 5% type of base for preference allotment, which is allowed also as per SEBI regulation.
Got it.
Again, this is our desire. This is how IHH will take it. It is their decision.
Can IHH also think about doing creeping?
At least we have not heard from them during our discussion with them that they are looking for that option. They also want to grow Indian business. Fortis is doing quite well for them, and they want to grow the business. They have openly mentioned in many investor conference that Fortis is their growth engine for India, and I think they will like to infuse fresh equity.
Got it, sir. Got it. Cool, sir. Thank you. That's it from my side, and congratulations on a good set of numbers.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Nikhil Mathur from HDFC Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, sir. Good morning.
Good morning.
Sir, I want to visit some nine-month numbers. So can you highlight the bed count additions exactly in this nine months, and where all have you added these beds?
Yeah. So bed count addition is 750 total. Out of that, as Neha earlier has asked, 500+ bed is through acquisition, and 250 is through the brownfield expansion, majorly coming from the Noida, Faridabad and Manesar facility. There is some more beds we are planning to open in Noida. The final finishing work is going on. I think that will be completed by this quarter. And then, we have, as I mentioned earlier, FMRI, which is our flagship hospital. We were planning to open that block in January. It has delayed little bit because of all these environmental and other issues, but we are targeting to open those beds by April this year.
Okay. So, can you split the occupancy between these new additions, including the acquisition and the base business? Because occupancy is largely flat in nine months at around 69% in nine months versus a similar number last year. So I guess there's some drag on overall occupancy from these new additions. So what's that number maybe, right?
Yeah. So the occupancy drag is mainly coming from the Noida, Greater Noida facility, as well as little bit from the Adayu, because the Adayu we have opened only in December. Jalandhar start contributing in the occupancy metrics quite well. So but Greater Noida and Adayu are very small units, it will not be having much impact.
50 basis point of occupancy.
50 basis points of occupancy may have gone up if we exclude this new unit.
Of the total addition, 50 basis points is the drag, right?
Yes. And I've told you which two units are dragging it.
Yeah. Okay, got it. So if I look at, if I refer to your Jan presentation of the bed count addition, from FY 2025 to FY 2030, which gives a CAGR of around 10.7%. Now, FY 2026 obviously is a big addition year, which kind of brings you to somewhere around 6,800 beds. So the bed count addition from FY 2026 to FY 2030, goes down to almost 6-6.5%, as per the current plan. So, so my, my question is, are we at a risk of kind of growth slowing down? Because the bed count addition itself will be some 8-9% post FY 2026, and your ARPO expectation is 4-5%, so that gives me to 11-12%. Maybe the base occupancy moves up, maybe a few percentage points. So, so is there a growth slowdown you might have to revisit your M&S study a bit more aggressively?
Yeah, that is one thing which we are now targeting very aggressively, and we have done a couple of acquisitions in the last quarter. There are a couple of others which are in the pipeline. We can't disclose the details as of today. But yeah, you are right. So, the growth will be coming from the three buckets. One is the brownfield expansion. Apart from what you were disclosed earlier, we have identified certain more, which will be coming in the next year investor presentation. Then we will also be having this acquisition thing, and then there is some greenfield project also we are looking at.
But, sir, sorry to be a bit cynical about this. There are so much expansion going-- I mean, every, every top corporate chain in this country is looking for bed expansion. So does that leave the current valuation environment conducive enough for you to keep doing M&A? Because the Bangalore one seems slightly on the higher side, if I look at on a EV per bed basis, and with CapEx also needed for the further expansion there. So just some broad thoughts. Are the valuations conducive enough?
Yeah, this is a good acquisition. I, I give you math. You know, if you. First of all, the location is fantastic, okay, this Bangalore one. And there is a potential to reach up to 300 beds. And, if you still, if you do 300-bed greenfield expansion in that locality, it will minimum cost you INR 1,000 crore, okay? With all the facility which we are planning. And, this acquisition will be costing us INR 800 crore. So in the metro, in the heart of the city, with 300-bed capacity, I don't think so it is a, it is a expensive acquisition. And, I think little bit risk we have to take. Having said that, Fortis has now established itself in the cluster where they are present, and we are quite confident we can handle any competition.
Understood, sir. This is helpful. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Neha Manpuria from Bank of America. Please go ahead. Neha, please go ahead with your question and kindly unmute your line in case if you're on mute.
Yeah, sorry, yeah, sorry about that. Okay, you mentioned there are a few M&A in the pipeline. From a priority perspective, what markets would you be interested in for potential M&A, given a cluster-based approach? That's the first one. And second one, for the 400-bed addition that we have outlined for the next two years, what would be the rough CapEx?
So the brownfield expansion for the next year mainly is coming from this FMRI. Major portion is coming from FMRI and little bit, increase in the, Manesar, thing, and, for which almost entire CapEx has already been incurred. Little bit, you know, medical equipment we have to acquire. So there's no much CapEx for the brownfield meaningful CapEx for the brownfield expansion for the bed which are coming. Of course, the new project which we are starting, like Mohali, Shalimar Bagh, these two units which we have taken, those expansion we will be starting, there will be additional CapEx. That we will, able to tell you once, you know, the plan is finalized. What was the next question? What was the next question, Neha, for you, from you?
I was just asking, you mentioned there's a few M&A in the pipeline that you're considering.
Yeah, yeah.
What are the, you know, given we have this cluster-based approach, what are the markets that Fortis is looking at from a priority perspective to add assets?
We are doing we are looking at you know the acquisition opportunity in the existing cluster in itself. So we want to strengthen and deepen our presence in the existing cluster. We feel we have a very strong brand equity in whichever cluster we present we are there, and we want to further strengthen our position in those clusters.
This would include Hyderabad as well, now with the Gleneagles, you know, O&M that we have?
Yeah, Hyderabad is now a sort of new cluster for us. We are slightly mindful for Hyderabad because of the intense competition there, but it is not ruled out. From the cluster approach, Hyderabad is definitely there.
All right. Got it. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Madhav Marda from Fidelity Investments. Please go ahead. Madhav, please go ahead with your question. Unmute yourself in case if you're on mute.
Hello?
Yes, Madhav, please go ahead.
Yeah, sorry, sorry about that. So my question was on the CGHS and ECHS rate hikes, which have come in. Have you been able to quantify what kind of benefit we can get on an annualized basis, say, in FY 2027?
Yeah, it is positive impact, Madhav, and it is not that meaningful in this quarter. As I said, there are, if you have gone through that circular for CGHS, there is a super specialty hospital category for which the registration has not yet been opened. And, so all those things will be finalized in maybe by next year. Similarly, ECHS also, there are a lot of confusion about, you know, the drug pricing and things like that, and, there are a lot of clarity team is asking. So I think let us wait for some time. This much I can tell you that this, there will be positive impact.
Okay. Okay, got it. I think the second question, I think you mentioned we've identified some more Brownfield expansion potential for Fortis. Could you give some more clarity in terms of, you know, which units are these, where we've identified more Brownfield expansion, and over what period of time, you know, these could come in for us?
Yeah. So we continuously, you know, look for brownfield expansion opportunity if there is any. Like last year, last quarter, we have taken approval from the board for opening a onco block in Faridabad unit. So, so, similarly, you know, these two units which we have taken, Jalandhar, as well as, TMI, there is a scope for, you know, further expansion. There is adjacent land parcel we have taken for, for expansion only. And, thirdly, you know, there's Greater Noida also. There is a potential to go up to 250-300 beds. Currently, it is operating at 150 beds. So, we have just taken over in a quarter, so we are stabilizing the things. So all those things will be coming. And plus, there is some opportunity in the existing units. We are finalizing the things. I don't want to name it because-
Okay.
There is some approval and the related, so maybe coming.
Understood. Understood. That's okay. Great. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Atul Minocha, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hello. Thanks for taking my question. My question is: how we, if we are leveraging AI for improving operational efficiency? That is my first question. Second question is with respect to recent budget announcement, right, government has mentioned to create regional medical hubs. So is there any work which you are doing as part of NATHEALTH or any other body, to work with the government, and if you can share some details around it? Thank you. That's my questions.
Yeah. So AI is a new theme, and healthcare, there are a lot of use cases for AI, and we are also working on some of the use cases. And, we are taking help of our parent company, IHH. They are slightly more advanced, in AI, so we are taking help from them. And, I think you will, you will see much more application of AI, at least in our health, healthcare network. And, as regards the engagement with the government, it is an ongoing process, and we keep engaged with the government and continue to work with them to provide quality healthcare for the, to the masses.
So my question was more specific with respect to medical tourism coming from Europe and U.S., you know, medical visa opening. So the government has mentioned that, you know, they will be creating five hubs, you know, during this project. So if you can share more details around that.
Yeah. I will say currently the country is not equipped to handle patients from those geography because they have other options also.
Okay.
Yeah.
Got it. Thank you.
That's it.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Amar Aher from Reden Capital. Please go ahead. Amar, please go ahead with your question.
Good morning, sir.
Yes. Yes, you are.
My question was that on a consolidated level, how many, like, what's the number of beds you're going to add in FY 2027?
Yeah, we mentioned about 430 odd beds.
Okay, 430
Including any additional we should be able to complete.
Okay, 430 beds you will be adding. How many will be operational?
Yeah, I think almost all will be operational. FMRI, we are planning to operationalize in two phases. FMRI is 200+ bedded, expansion. So we'll first open 100 beds. We are quite hopeful we will be able to fill it quite fast, and then we'll open, the next, bed, batch of beds, beds also. So FMRI is the only question mark that 100 beds may be operationalized this year or next year, depending upon the ramp up. Other will be operational fully.
Okay, sir. Got it, sir. That's all from my side. Thank you so much.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Kartik Agrawal, an individual investor. Please go ahead. Since there is no response, ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Anurag Kalra for the closing remarks.
Thank you, Alaric. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your time today. If there are further follow-up questions, data clarification, please feel free to reach out to me or my colleague, Amit. We'll be glad to help you. Thank you and have a good day.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Fortis Healthcare Limited, that concludes this conference call. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your lines.