Dr. Agarwals Eye Hospital , a leading eyecare hospital chain, is planning an investment of ₹500 crore in the next two-three years to expand its footprint across India, Africa and South Asia, according to a senior company official.

"At present we have 90-plus hospitals, which would grow to 150 eye hospitals by 2022-23," said Amar Agarwal, Chairman, Dr. Agarwal's Group of Eye Hospitals, here today.

He was speaking to BusinessLine at an event to announce fund-raising of ₹215 crore by way of debt from CDC Group, a development finance institution funded by the UK government.

This is the second fund-raising by the speciality hospital chain during the current calendar year. In February, Dr. Agarwal's raised ₹270 crore from Singapore-based global investment company, Temasek.

"Today we are a zero-debt company. We had debt from Edelweiss and HDFC, which was cleared within 1½ years of borrowing. Since we are zero-debt, we have decided to go for debt rather than equity," Agarwal said.

Currently, 14 out of its 90-plus hospitals are located in Africa, including in Zambia and Uganda. The current expansion will add six hospitals in Africa, to take the total tally there to 20 hospitals.

The proposed addition of 60 hospitals will be funded through internal accruals, in addition to the ₹215-crore of debt funds raised by the company.

"We opened our first eye hospital in Mumbai and of the 60 new hospitals proposed, 20 will be opened in Maharashtra," Agarwal said, adding the new hospitals will be both greenfield and brownfield additions.

"By 2022-23, our valuation will be approximately ₹5,000 crore, which will be a huge valuation for any eye care hospital," Agarwal added.

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