Yash Birla faces off

If business ventures can be an extension of a CEO’s personality— think Vijay Mallya and Kingfisher, or Gautam Singhania and Raymond—a foray into healthcare and wellness fits Yash Birla like a glove. A few months after the Rs 3,000-crore Yash Birla Group (which has companies like Zenith Birla and Dagger Forst) announced a tie-up with the Apollo Group to set up a hospital at an investment of Rs 110 crore, Birla has sewn up another alliance; this one’s with the Singapore-based Pacific Healthcare Holdings, to set up a countrywide chain of medi-spas branded Evolve.

“In the next three years, we plan to take Evolve across India by starting 25 facilities,” says Birla. He adds that the group had commissioned consulting major Ernst & Young to do a study on the health and wellness segment in the country, which revealed that the sector was valued at Rs 1,80,000 crore and was growing at 20 per cent per annum.

While the Birla Group will hold a 50 per cent stake in the newly-inked joint venture, Pacific will hold about 42.5 per cent, and Dr Abhijit Desai, a prominent dermatologist, will hold the rest. “Today, everybody is conscious about the way they look.

We plan to cater to this growing market by being present in all aspects of healthcare, from Ayurveda to beauty treatments,” says Birla. Evolve will offer an entire gamut of treatments, including plastic surgery, implants and cosmetic dentistry, cosmetic dermatology, botox treatments and anti-aging medicine.

—T.V. Mahalingam