Prognosis

A $2 Billion Health Empire Run by Four Sisters Makes a Comeback

  • Apollo Hospital’s stock has surged after hitting four-year low
  • India’s largest hospital chain is expanding into small cities
Suneeta ReddyPhotographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg
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Next to Suneeta Reddy’s desk in the executive suite of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. hangs an icon of Hinduism’s many-armed warrior goddess Durga, who Reddy prays to each morning. The deity’s presence seems fitting at a company run by four women engineering an aggressive expansion into new territory.

About a decade ago, Reddy and her three sisters took over most executive functions at Apollo, India’s largest hospital chain, from their father. They embarked on a multi-year building spree in a bet that India’s economic growth would spread from its metropolises to second-tier cities, where patients are getting richer. But Apollo’s stock tumbled as the sisters’ investments weighed on profits.