HCL enters Healthcare Business With Rs 1,000 Crore

Tech giant HCL on Thursday announced its foray into the country's fast-growing wellness and preventive healthcare market with the launch of HCL Healthcare. Promoted by billionaire Shiv Nadar, the company plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore over the next five years to create India's largest network of outdoor patient clinics.

Think smartphone apps, video consultation and online monitoring of real-time health status of patients that will help them get rid off unwieldy paperwork. "The idea is to capture diseases early and nip problems in the bud," says Harish Natarajan, CEO of HCL Avitas, which is the first subsidiary of the venture rolled out in partnership with Johns Hopkins Medicine, a $6.7-billion US-based integrated global health enterprise.

The company is already running two clinics in the Delhi NCR region. "Eventually, we aim to employ around 1,500 doctors and cater to 50,000 patients daily," says Natarajan

A patient who walks into an HCL clinic will become a registered member. He or she will have access to the company's vast network of clinics and will be charged Rs 400-800 as consultation fees. "In the beginning, we will try to tap the Indian middle class," says Natarajan. Shikhar Malhotra, who is married to Shiv Nadar's daughter Roshni, has been named vice-chairman of HCL Healthcare.