Hyderabad based Rainbow Hospitals is planning to expand its operation in four major cities of India with an investment of Rs.215 crore in the coming next four years.

With regard to this, Rainbow has signed an agreement with CDC, a UK based finance institution, and Abraaj group, a leading investor for an equity investment of Rs.100 crore.

Initially the Rainbow Hospital is planning to use the capital to build a 450 bedded paediatric and maternity healthcare business in Andhra Pradesh.

From CDC’s point of view, this is its first direct equity investment in Indian healthcare sector. For Abraaj group it is the sixth healthcare investment in the south Asian region.

Welcoming the investment, Dr Ramesh Kancharla, chairman and managing director, Rainbow Hospitals, said, “This investment lets us to expand and develop our high-quality medical facilities. We have plans to expand across India including in cities such as Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. In parallel, we would also like to develop tertiary paediatric care in tier II cities like Vizag and Kurnool. The current investment would give us the capacity to expand the number of beds available to patients from the current level of 450 plus to close to a 1000 by 2017.”

Rainbow currently has its two largest hospitals certified with the Indian quality seal of the National Accreditation Board of Hospitals (NABH). Rainbow also won “Best Children’s Hospital” by CNBC and ICICI Lombard in 2010 and made the top five children's hospitals in India from “The Week” Hansa survey in 2010, 2011 & 2012.

Established in 1999, Rainbow Hospitals is India’s largest specialized paediatric and maternity care company with four maternity, paediatric and neonatal intensive care units and one outpatient clinic in Hyderabad. The business has expanded with four centres added in the last six years and intends to develop beyond the state of Andhra Pradesh, with new hospitals planned for cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and tier II cities like Vizag and Kurnool.

Hoping to bridge the gap between demand and supply of healthcare in India, Srini Nagarajan, CDC’s regional director for South Asia, said: “With demand expected to grow at around 15 per cent per annum over the next decade it’s clear that the gap in provision of healthcare in India will need to be plugged by the private sector. We’ll help Rainbow hospital to develop its plan to become a national centre of excellence for the teaching of paediatric medicine and for helping other institutions to deliver quality care.”