Industry Odisha Bureau, Oct 30: Max Healthcare has approved ₹415 crore of capital expenditure to add 209 beds. The beds will go into three existing hospitals, the company said in Friday’s exchange filing. The approval came alongside a 10% like-for-like rise in September-quarter network profit. Together, the two disclosures show a hospital chain spending to meet rising demand.
Max Super Speciality Hospital (MSSH), Noida, will get 85 beds. MSSH Vaishali will add 60, while BLK-Max Hospital will add 64. BLK-Max will also get a multi-level parking tower. Because the outlay covers parking too, it does not translate neatly into a per-bed cost. The sum is an approval, not money already spent. Adding beds to running hospitals typically costs less and moves faster than greenfield builds. Such projects can reuse existing operating theatres, diagnostics, staff and patient catchments.
Network profit after tax reached ₹448 crore in the September quarter. The 10% growth is adjusted for a one-time tax gain in the year-ago quarter. Unadjusted, the year-on-year comparison would be weaker. Gross revenue climbed 20% to ₹3,219 crore. Operating EBITDA, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, rose 18% to ₹820 crore. That puts the operating margin near 25.5%. Because EBITDA trailed revenue, the margin appears to have slipped slightly from a year earlier. The filing, as reported, does not explain why.
For the six months to September, network gross revenue rose 18% to ₹6,200 crore. Growth came mainly from more occupied bed days, a measure of beds actually filled. Like-for-like net profit rose 7% to ₹805 crore, from ₹750 crore. Operations generated ₹897 crore in cash, while net debt stood at ₹2,369 crore. That cash flow gives some headroom, though capex projects tie up capital for years.
Max is also deepening clinical services. At MSSH Dwarka, a new oncology block has begun operating. It houses chemotherapy day-care, dialysis, a LINAC radiation machine, PET-CT scanning and pathology. The main Dwarka hospital is expected to reach 318 beds in the third quarter of FY27. In Bhubaneswar, Max rebranded Kalinga Hospital after buying a controlling stake. Six operation theatres, seven ICU beds and 37 ward beds are targeted there by December.
Operational beds totalled 5,518 at September-end, up 758 in twelve months. Total bed capacity stood at 6,184, up 20% year-on-year. The 666-bed difference is capacity not yet counted as operational. Patient-service episodes topped 31 lakh in the quarter, up 12%. Revenue therefore grew faster than patient volumes. Chairman Abhay Soi said occupancy is rising and new beds are filling faster. He read this as evidence of robust demand for added capacity.
Expansion carries clear execution risks. New beds need specialists, timely commissioning and patients able to afford private care. Underused wards would weigh on returns and margins. For now, Max’s numbers suggest demand is absorbing its growing capacity. Its next test is filling 209 more beds without diluting profitability.
