The Hindu Business Line : Fortis to invest Rs 800 cr for foray into health stores

MR MALVINDER MOHAN SINGH (left), CEO and Managing Director, Ranbaxy Laboratories, and Mr Shivinder Mohan Singh, Managing Director, Fortis Healthcare Ltd & Escort Heart Institute, at a press conference in the Capital on Tuesday. — Kamal Narang

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New Delhi Feb. 6 The Ranbaxy promoter group hopes to put a healthy smile on the faces of its retail customers. It has committed Rs 800 crore of `family equity' to establish 1,000 Fortis health stores across India in five years.

Launching the logo of Fortis HealthWorld, a chain of 24/7 health pharmacies and stores, Mr Malvinder Mohan Singh, CEO and MD, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd (RLL), and brother, Mr Shivinder Mohan Singh, CEO and MD, Fortis Healthcare Ltd and Escorts Heart, said that this was in line with the company's commitment to bring the best of healthcare services to Indian consumers.

Expansion plans

Fortis HealthWorld, headed by Mr Ashish Kirpal Pandit as CEO, hopes to establish 250 stores by the end of 2008 across India. The pharmacies' geographic expansion outside the NCR will happen independently and before Fortis hospitals' pan-national plans.

Mr Shivinder M. Singh said the chain would be a customer centric one-stop shop for all health solutions. HealthWorlds will stock prescription and over-the-counter drugs, of both allopathic and ayurvedic products, health foods, supplements and even health books. They will also be equipped with telemedicine facilities and collection centres connected to SRL Ranbaxy, the group's chain of pathology labs.

Three formats have been planned for the stores in 500 ft, 1,000 ft and 2,000 ft to make penetration into both metros and small cities feasible.