Landmark Study Maps Hidden Surge of Private Equity in Indian Hospitals

A new academic study reveals that private equity firms have quietly completed seventy health care acquisitions across India between January 2007 and May 2025.

Ownership and Geography

Published in BMC Health Services Research, the research was conducted by Megha Reddy and Yashaswini Singh from the Brown University School of Public Health alongside Cyrus Engineer from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The study relies on transaction-level data from PitchBook, which was manually checked against press releases, news reports, and provider websites. Nearly two-thirds of all identified investments target hospitals and multispecialty hospital chains. Most of these seventy deals took place after 2020. Geographically, the acquisitions are heavily concentrated in southern urban states like Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Telangana, featuring major hubs such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. By contrast, rural and underserved areas attracted little to no investment.

Foreign Capital and Policy

Nearly sixty-seven percent of the private equity acquisitions in the study sample were financed exclusively by foreign firms. The research categorizes investments across four segments: clinics and outpatient services, elder and disabled care, hospital and inpatient services, and laboratory services. While private equity can bring much-needed capital and professional management to a fragmented health sector, the authors point out that American research has linked similar ownership models to higher prices and staffing cuts. The study notes that its authors are based at US institutions, acknowledging that external observers might miss local regulatory nuances. Researchers suggest that India should strengthen public disclosure rules and track costs, patient care standards, and workforce changes following buyouts.

Context

Private equity firms typically use pooled institutional money and borrowed funds to buy companies, restructure them, and sell them for a profit within five to seven years. In health systems globally, this short-term investment model has sparked ongoing debates about balancing corporate profits against patient access and affordability.