Aster DM Healthcare, which is merging with Blackstone-backed Quality Care India (QCIL), plans to add more than 4,000 beds over the next three years as it looks to strengthen its position as the country’s second-largest hospital chain by bed capacity.
“India is now our largest growth market and we plan to invest aggressively over the next three years. Our expansion strategy focuses on both greenfield projects and selective acquisitions,” Alisha Moopen, deputy managing director, Aster DM Healthcare India, told FE.
In November 2024, Aster DM Healthcare announced its merger with QCIL which is backed by Blackstone and TPG. The combined entity will have 10,625 beds in 39 hospitals across nine states, making it the second-largest hospital chain by bed count and third-largest by revenue. Post merger, the company plans to scale up total capacity to 14,710 beds by FY28. Of the 4,080-plus bed additions, around 2,368 will be added by Aster while the remaining will come from QCIL.
“A capital outlay of approximately Rs 2,300 crore has been committed to this growth initiative, of which `350 crore had already been invested in critical projects as of September 2025,” Moopen said.
Unlisted Manipal Hospitals has around 10,500 beds while Apollo Hospitals had a capacity of 10,325 beds as of the third quarter of FY26 across owned and managed hospitals, with plans to add 4,400 beds over the next five years.
Consolidating Scale
“From a bed capacity perspective, we should be sort of number two. But there is a lot of activity happening in the market, so it is hard to say how things will evolve. Our medium- to long-term goal is definitely to be the national champion for healthcare in India,” she added.
The company on Wednesday said it had received shareholder and creditor approvals for the merger. The transaction had earlier received approvals from the Competition Commission of India as well as no-objection certificates from the BSE and the NSE. Moopen said the approval of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for the merger is expected in the next quarter.
Synergistic Growth
The integration is also expected to improve profitability. The combined business currently operates at around 20% Ebitda margins. “We will try to realise an additional 10-15% benefit on our bottom line through these synergies,” she said. The combined proforma revenues stood at Rs 2,366 crore during Q3 FY26.
On the impact of the ongoing West Asia crisis, Moopen said international patients account for only 5-7% of the group’s business. “At a unit level there may be some temporary impact. But this month is Ramzan, so we did not expect significant medical tourism,” she said. She added that medical tourism demand from markets such as Africa, the Maldives and Sri Lanka remains strong, while the company has also started seeing patients from CIS countries.