HomeBusiness NewsLooking to boost shareholder value in pharmacy biz; talking to multiple players: Apollo Hospitals

Looking to boost shareholder value in pharmacy biz; talking to multiple players: Apollo Hospitals

There are media reports of Amazon looking to invest USD 100 million or around Rs 737 crore in Apollo Pharmacy, the pharmacy division of Apollo Hospital Enterprises. Suneeta Reddy, MD of Apollo Hospitals told CNBC-TV18 that the reports were speculative.

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By Latha Venkatesh   | Sonia Shenoy   | Surabhi Upadhyay  December 16, 2020, 3:43:09 PM IST (Updated)

There are media reports of Amazon looking to invest USD 100 million or around Rs 737 crore in Apollo Pharmacy, the pharmacy division of Apollo Hospital Enterprises.



Suneeta Reddy, MD of Apollo Hospitals told CNBC-TV18 that the reports were speculative.

However, she said that they were looking at ways to enhance shareholder value in the pharmacy business and were in talks with multiple players.

“In Apollo, we are continuously looking at strategic ways to improve our shareholder returns and we have done that with the health insurance company. I cannot confirm the reports, but I would like to state that with the launch of 24/7 -- our digital strategy and our online pharmacy, we are looking at ways to enhance value for both Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited (AHEL) and for all our stakeholders,” she said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

Reddy said that Apollo Pharmacy currently has 3,800 stores, and are looking at 5,000 physical stores. She also said that they have a strong infrastructure presence and are in the process of layering it with digital presence.

“Currently we have Rs 6,000 crore of revenue which will go up to Rs 10,000 crore of revenue. Based on our physical infrastructure, we have pharmacies that cover 40 percent of India and 40 percent of India is only 45 minutes away from a pharmacy. So we have a very strong infrastructure presence. What we are now doing is layer it with digital presence so as to expand our reach beyond the physical stores,” she said.

Currently, Apollo Pharma’s e-commerce sales is 10 percent of the total sales, she said. “This is not a significant number because we launched in COVID and it has only been 6 months. We have 6 million active users, but the potential is 432 million people to be on-board,” she said.

For full interview, watch video.

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