Homegrown Ambuja Neotia Group, a leader in the real estate and hospitality sector in Bengal, is sewing up an ambitious expansion of the healthcare vertical that could make it one of the major hospital chains in the east.

The group is going to add close to at least 1,350 beds with an estimated investment of upwards of ₹1,500 crore (sans land cost) in multiple projects, including two general hospitals in Calcutta.

It has acquired a plot from a Delhi-based entity in Rajarhat where a 500-bed general hospital is being planned. Moreover, the group has successfully bid and acquired a 30-year lease right from Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port in Taratala where a 250-bed hospital is going to come up.

“We will open two facilities every year for the next four years,” Parthiv Neotia, executive director of Ambuja Neotia Group, who is spearheading the expansion of the healthcare division, told this newspaper.

The group’s journey with healthcare started in 2002 with Bhagirathi Neotia Woman & Child Care Centre at the intersection of Park Street and Rawdon Street. It was followed by another such centre in Rajarhat where Ambuja is adding a paediatric multi-speciality division of 70-beds, a first in the private sector in the east.

The first multi-speciality facility came up in Siliguri under Getwell Neotia brand, which is also under expansion. Put together, the group is managing about 500 beds.

“Bengal and the east are underserved in healthcare. As a group which has its roots in this part of the country, we believe there is headroom for growth,” Neotia said.

Given that the expansion is going to take place in phases, the Neotia family is hoping to plough in internal accruals to finance the growth even as accessing primary market in the future is not ruled out.

Parthiv Neotia, who’s following the illustrious careers of his family, including his father Harshavardhan Neotia, the chairman of Ambuja Neotia Group, described the expansion in healthcare as ‘social entrepreneurship’.

The facilities will not only allow the populace from Bengal to access quality healthcare but also the entire eastern region, which sometimes consider travelling to southern states for medical purposes.

The unrest in Bangladesh and the changed equation with the new dispensation in the neighbouring country is not going to impact plans, Neotia insisted. “Medical tourism does not only involve patients from one particular country. There is Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar as well as other Indian states, such as the North East, Bihar, Jharkhand and others.”

The group is in the process of building mother and child healthcare facilities outside Bengal. For instance, a hospital in Guwahati is expected to be operational in 2025. Plans are afoot to expand in Raipur in Chhattisgarh and also in Durgapur with a mother-and-child facility.

The expansion could make the group the largest Calcutta headquartered healthcare chain since AMRI was acquired by Manipal. It will likely compete with national chains such as Apollo and Narayana Health who are expanding in the east.

Neotia also did not rule out acquisition of healthcare facilities though a strong pipeline exists for the group.