The hospital chain’s model of high-quality healthcare delivered efficiently at low cost has multiplied its profits. However, sustaining this will need more than just Devi Prasad Shetty’s immense drive.
Pent-up demand since the pandemic, a revival in medical tourism, growing insurance penetration—the reasons for the boom in private healthcare are many. It’s also created an odd recent trend. The smallest of the top-five hospital chains by market capitalization has overtaken the largest one in profitability.
David, Narayana Hrudayalaya, has trumped Goliath, Apollo Hospitals, based on earnings for the first half of 2023-24.
The hospital chain—rebranded as Narayana Health in 2013—had listed on public markets in 2016 and had begun a pivot towards the high-growth premium healthcare segment just as the pandemic struck. Its share price graph neatly reflects the …
Ujval leads our Business vertical at The Morning Context. In a corporate career spanning 14 years, he has worked across startups, consulting firms, multinational corporations and large Indian companies, including India Infoline, ICICI, KPMG, Tata Steel and Jubilant Pharma. Ujval has been a freelance writer and trainer for eight years, with bylines in Forbes India and The Economic Times.
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