Malaysia’s IHH Healthcare Plans Expansion Across India, Seeks Majority Stake In Fortis

Prem Kumar Nair, group CEO of IHH Healthcare, speaks at the Forbes Global CEO Conference held in Jakarta on Oct 14-15, 2025.

Forbes Asia

Kuala Lumpur-based IHH Healthcare—one of Asia’s biggest healthcare groups—is investing 13 billion rupees ($147 million) to expand its hospitals across India as it prepares to take controlling interest in Fortis Healthcare, the second-largest hospital chain in the world’s most populous country.

The company—which counts Japan’s Mitsui & Co. and Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional among its biggest shareholders—plans to add 2,200 hospital beds across its existing hospitals in India by 2028. It currently runs 33 hospitals with over 5,500 beds in the country.

India is IHH Healthcare’s fourth-largest market, accounting for about 17% of the group’s total revenue of 24 billion ringgit ($5.7 billion) in 2024. With the expansion plans, India could become the company’s top revenue contributor within the next five years, Prem Kumar Nair, CEO of IHH Healthcare, said on the sidelines of the Forbes Global CEO Conference held in Jakarta on October 14-15.

“The Indian healthcare market is very, very vibrant,” Nair said, noting that the country’s growing population and increasing medical insurance coverage helped boost demand for healthcare.

While several of the group’s hospitals are in major cities such as Mumbai and New Delhi, Nair said he sees significant opportunities in second-tier cities.

Nair said the company is waiting for regulators to approve the price it will have to pay for the additional stake of as much as 26.1% in Fortis Healthcare. IHH Healthcare became the largest shareholder of Fortis Healthcare in 2018 after buying a 31% stake for $585 million. Since then, the stock price of Fortis Healthcare has more than quadrupled.

IHH Healthcare is also expanding in Malaysia and Turkey, which are key destinations for medical tourism. It will add 1,420 beds in Malaysia and 1,030 beds in Turkey by 2028. Turkey—which attracts patients from the Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe—is the group’s biggest market, accounting for about 30% of revenue last year, followed by Singapore and Malaysia.

The company has been expanding its footprint in Malaysia where it acquired the Island Hospital in the northern Malaysian state of Penang, which primarily serves international patients from Indonesia, for 3.9 billion ringgit in 2024.

While the group currently operates across 10 countries, Nair said IHH Healthcare is exploring opportunities in new markets such as Indonesia and Vietnam.