Good morning, everyone. I welcome you to the Aster DM Healthcare Earnings Conference Call for the first quarter of FY 25. The company declared the Q1 results for FY 24-25. With us, we have the senior management of Aster DM Healthcare, namely Ms. Alisha Moopen, Deputy Managing Director, Mr. T.J. Wilson, Non-Executive Director, Dr. Nitish Shetty, Chief Executive Officer, India, Mr. Sunil Kumar, Chief Financial Officer, India, and Mr. Hitesh Dhaddha, Chief of Investor Relations and M&A. I would like to inform everyone about how we will conduct this call. All external attendees will be in listen-only mode for the duration of the entire call. We will start the call with opening remarks by management, followed by an interactive Q&A session. During the Q&A session, you will get a chance to ask a question by raising your hand by clicking on the Raise Hand icon in Zoom application at the bottom of your window. We will call out your name, after which your line will be unmuted, and you will be able to ask your question. We request you to please limit your questions to two, but not more than three per participant at a time. Certain forward-looking statements may be discussed in this meeting, and such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties like government actions, local political or economic developments, technological risk, and many other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. Aster DM Healthcare Limited will not be in any way responsible for any action based on such statements, and undertakes no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. With this, I will ask Ms. Alisha Moopen to start with opening remarks. Over to you, Ms. Alisha. Thank you, Puneet. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our Q1 FY25 earnings call. The successful segregation of our GCC business has sharpened our focus on India as a geography as we embark on FY25. I'm pleased to present an overview of our first quarterly performance following the successful segregation. India, as you all know, has a low hospital bed density with only 15 beds per 10,000 people, significantly lower than the global average of 29 beds. This shortage of basic healthcare infrastructure creates a significant opportunity for us to expand our specialized services to meet the growing healthcare needs and improve the overall healthcare infrastructure in India. Q1 results, it clearly reflects how Aster DM Healthcare, post its strategic shift, it is extremely well-positioned to capitalize on these immense opportunities within the Indian healthcare market and position itself for sustained growth. I would like now to share a few highlights of our financial and operating performance for the first quarter of FY 25. Following a brief overview of the overall performance of the company, Dr. Nitish will provide insights into the cluster performance of our business in India. Over the last five years, our India operations have experienced significant growth with a compound annual growth rate, CAGR, of 23% in revenue and 38% in operating EBITDA up to FY 24. This growth has been driven by significant capacity expansion, as well as ARPOB growth, increasing international revenue, and offering advanced quaternary and tertiary healthcare services. Now, coming to the quarterly performance of the India business. Our business has achieved 20% growth in revenues to INR 1,000 crore for the quarter. This growth was supported by an addition of nearly 450 beds over the last year, and a 12% year-on-year increase in the ARPOB as well. Aster's operating EBITDA grew by 38% to INR 177 crore for the quarter. Overall, the India operating EBITDA margin expanded to 17.6% for the quarter, from 15.3% a year ago. This significant improvement is on account of our overall operational efficiencies, which is evidenced both by the reduction of ALOS, cost optimization efforts that has really lowered the material cost to 21% during the quarter, from 23% same period of last year, as well as EBITDA improvement in our lab business. Our net profit, post the NCI, has grown 80% to INR 74 crore in Q1 FY 2025, driven by our operational excellence and interest earned on the investment of remaining sale proceeds from the segregation of the GCC vertical. We have also seen a payer shift, payer mix, towards a more positive shift, with a contribution from the insurance business increasing by over 200 basis points, reaching 30% now. This growth was offset by a corresponding reduction in the scheme business. Now, going back into the core business, our core hospital business delivered operating EBITDA margin of 21% in Q1 FY 2025, as compared to 18% a year ago. In fact, our mature hospitals, which we classify as those which are more than six years in operation, which contributes to almost 73% of our hospital segment revenue, has delivered our operating EBITDA margin of 23% in Q1 FY 25, with the ROCE standing at 30%. Our deliberate efforts to establish a sustainable business model are clearly demonstrated in our well-diversified specialty revenue mix, with no single specialty accounting for more than 50% of the total hospital revenue in FY 24. Coming to some of our new businesses, both the pharmacy and labs, during this quarter, we added 12 patient experience centers in Kerala and two pharmacies in Karnataka. In Q1 FY 25, reaching a total of 229 patient experience centers and 217 Aster Pharmacy branded retail stores as of thirtieth June 2024. Our lab business is continuing to perform well, registering more than 15% year-on-year revenue growth, while continuing to deliver positive operating EBITDA margin in Q1 FY 25. In terms of CapEx and onward plans for investments, we remain committed to our robust expansion plans, which include the addition of approximately 1,700 beds, taking the total bed count to 6,500 beds by the end of FY 2027. Our plan primarily comprises of brownfield expansions, particularly at renowned hospitals such as Medcity, CMI, and Whitefield. These facilities, which are known to focus on niche specialties and high-end quaternary care work, will further strengthen our position as a leader in the healthcare sector. With this expansion, Aster Medcity is set to grow to 950 beds, while Aster CMI will expand to over 850 beds. In addition, we are actively seeking inorganic growth opportunities with the objective of becoming one of the top three healthcare players in India. We are focusing on acquiring multi-specialty hospitals in states where we have a presence, or in neighboring states such as Maharashtra as well as Tamil Nadu. Our strong financial performance has really and strategic initiatives demonstrate our commitment to innovation and excellence in healthcare delivery. Our efforts are recognized by the Economic Times, where we were honored as the Best Healthcare Brand of the Year, 2024. Additionally, Aster CMI has become the first hospital in South India to achieve the NABH Digital Platinum Accreditation as well. As we progress into FY 25, we are poised to capitalize on the substantial growth opportunities within the Indian healthcare sector. Focusing on the Indian market is a strategic decision that aligns with our mission to deliver high-quality healthcare services in an evolving economy. We are very optimistic about the future, and we believe our expansion plans and operational improvements will enable us to make a significant impact in the industry, ensuring better health outcomes and a brighter future for all. I will now request our CEO, Dr. Nitish Shetty, to elaborate more on the performance, including both the segment and the cluster-wise performance. Thank you all very much. Yeah. Thank you, Alisha. A very good morning, and thank you all for joining us on quarter one of the financial year 25 earnings call. I'm enthusiastic to share the exciting journey we are embarking on, as we focus exclusively on Indian market from quarter one of the financial year 2025 onwards. This strategic shift has come at a time when Indian healthcare industry is experiencing substantial growth and transformation. Hence, we are prepared to make the most of this opportunity by enhancing our services and infrastructure, aiming to meet the increasing demand for quality healthcare in India. Moving on to India business performance for the quarter one of the financial year 25. The addition of 446 beds in last year has led to 20% year-on-year growth in revenue, and 39% year-on-year growth in operating EBITDA in quarter one of the financial year 2025. Our core hospital business, including clinics, contributing 94% of our total revenue, grew by 21% year-on-year, to INR 968 crore in quarter one of the financial year 2025. The successful implementation of cost optimization initiatives and operational leverages has led to significant growth of 39% in core hospital operating EBITDA, delivering operating EBITDA margins of 21% in quarter one of the financial year 2025, compared to 18% in the quarter one of the financial year 2024. Excluding O&M, our core hospital business grew by 20%, reaching to INR 930 crore, with operating EBITDA margin of 21.4% in quarter one of the financial year 2025. Additionally, our O&M satellite model registered a revenue growth of 89% year-on-year in the quarter one of financial year 2025, with the addition of 149 beds in past one year. This hospital segment has already started delivering positive EBITDA and is poised to contribute to enhance overall hospital margins. Our new business performance, especially the Aster Lab, grew by 15% year-on-year, delivering positive operating EBITDA margins. Furthermore, overall payer mix, as Alisha mentioned, has changed in quarter one for the financial year 2025, with year-on-year increase of 200 basis points in insurance patients, reaching to 30% now. This growth was offset by reduction in scheme patients. Coming to the cluster-wise performance, our Kerala cluster, which contributes 55% of the overall hospital business revenue, maintained positive momentum with revenue growth of 14% year-on-year and operating EBITDA growth of 30% year-on-year in quarter one of the financial year 2025. The Kerala cluster delivered operating EBITDA margins of 22.7%, aided by a reduction in ALOS to 3.1 days and price growth. The ARPOB of Kerala cluster also witnessed an optimum growth of 12% year-on-year at INR 42,000 in quarter one of financial year 2025, reflecting the price hike and reduction of scheme work. Our Karnataka and Maharashtra cluster, contributing 34% to the overall hospital revenue, showed strong performance in quarter one of financial year 2025. The revenue of the cluster grew by 38% year-over-year, and operating EBITDA grew by 55% year-over-year in Q1 of the financial year 25, while delivering an operating EBITDA margin of 21.2%. With the scaling performance of our new Whitefield hospital at Bangalore location, the cluster witnessed a notable improvement in occupancy levels, rising to 62% in quarter one of financial year 25 from 55% in quarter one of financial year 24. Our Andhra and Telangana cluster remains steady, with revenue growth of 15% year-over-year and operating EBITDA growth of 20% year-over-year in quarter one of financial year 25. We are confident in our cluster approach, which has enabled us to break even faster with new hospitals. Coming to CapEx, our expansion plans to add 1,700 beds by financial year 2027 is on track, which will increase our total capacity to over 6,500 beds. This expansion will enable us to bridge the gap between demand and supply, positioning us to capitalize the growing opportunities in Indian healthcare market. We remain committed to providing high-quality healthcare services and achieving sustainable growth, with strategic objective to become one of the top three players in Indian healthcare sector. I now request our CFO, Mr. Sunil, to elaborate more on financial performance. Thank you very much. Thank you, Dr. Nitish. Good morning, everyone. For the quarter ended thirtieth June 2024, India revenues have increased to INR 1,002 crores, up by 20% from INR 838 crores in quarter one FY 2024, and operating EBITDA has increased to INR 177 crores with a margin of 17.7%, compared to INR 128 crores in quarter one FY 2024, 39%. PAT post NCI for quarter one FY 2024, INR 41 crores in quarter one FY 2024, with a growth of 80% year-on-year. Our core hospital and clinic segment achieved revenues of INR 968 crore, up 21% from INR 787 crore in quarter one FY 2024, and the operating EBITDA has increased to INR 201 crore with a margin of 20.8%, compared to INR 146 crore in quarter one FY 2024, with a growth of 37%. The ARPOB for quarter one FY 2025 saw an overall growth of 12%, increasing from 39,400 to 44,200. Excluding O&M hospitals, the ARPOB rose by 15% from 4,800 to 46,800. This growth was driven by revenue augmentation, revenue assurance measures, optimization of our ALOS, and improvement in payer and case mix. In terms of cost optimization, our material cost percentage, excluding wholesale pharmacy, steadily declined from 25.3 in FY 2022 to 22% in FY 2024, and further to 21% during the current quarter. This reduction reflects our effective cost management, strategic procurement, and operational efficiencies implemented across our business units. For the quarter ending June 30, 2024, our capital expenditure totaled INR 85 crore, with approximately 64% spent towards expanding our capacity. Over the next three years, we aim to add nearly 1,700 beds, with 60% of these being brownfield expansion, to ensure that there is no dilution in our margins. Optimized capital allocation, coupled with margin improvement, our ROCE has experienced a significant growth. ROCE surged 200 basis points year-on-year, reaching 16.5%. Hospital and clinic segment, excluding O&M-asset hospitals, ROCE rose to 23.8% from 22.3%. Mature hospitals saw an impressive increase in ROCE by over 300 basis points, reaching 30% in quarter one FY 2025. Aster India net cash stands at INR 1,041 crores as on 30th June, compared to net debt of INR 565 crores as on 30th June, 2023. On that note, I conclude my remarks. We would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. I now request Puneet to open the question and answer session. Thank you. Thanks, Sunil. We can now move on to the Q&A session. Before moving on to the Q&A session, I would also like to request to all the participants, if you can introduce yourself with your name and the company that you are associated with, before asking the questions. If you are not associated with any company and you are an individual investor, you can highlight that also. Moving on to the Q&A session, the first question is from Mr. Sudhir. Sudhir, if you can unmute yourself and ask the question. Good morning, sir, and I'm Sudhir Bheda from Bheda Family Office. Congratulations on a very good set of numbers, sir. Thank you. Am I audible? Yes. Thank you, Sudhir. Please go ahead. Yes, sir, my question is, your margin has gone up at almost like 200 BPS plus. So going forward, what are the chances that margin can improve further as some of the your capacity is going to be matured? So margin enhancement, just I want to ask question on that. Thank you, Sudhir. With respect to margin enhancement, so if you have seen our growth in quarter-on-quarter, and also look at our maturity profile, right? Today, we have, you know, above six years, above six years hospitals. We have got almost 10 hospitals today, with almost 73% of revenue coming from there. If you look at their EBITDA margin, operating EBITDA, it's almost 23.2. So that shows that there is a good scope of increasing the overall margins, right? At the same time, you know, we have started our journey in India only last 10 years, right? So a lot of assets have been in the growth stage. Now, only recently only we have matured into, you know, many of the hospitals have gone to mature stage. Yes. That's where you will see the margin expansion happening. And we see that, and also 17.7%, what you're seeing is a consolidated number with hospitals, labs, and pharmacies put together. But only hospitals, when you look at, it's more than 20.8%. Correct? So, I think even the previous quarters also, I have explained that, at a consolidated level, in next couple of years, we can look at going from current 17.7%, 18% to 20%-21%. And specifically, the core segment, which is our hospital and clinic segment, that is something which is currently at 21%, can go up to 23%-24%. So we see this is like a sustainable margins with our ARPOB, because we have present majority, 70% of business come from non-metros for us. With our current ARPOB of INR 44,000, we see that with a decent ARPOB growth and added to our cost optimization measures, we will be able to reach to the numbers which I was able to talk about. Yeah. Thanks for explaining in detail, sir. Thanks for the opportunity, and all the best, sir. Thank you. Mr. Sudhir, the next question, who is asking, Mr. Sanjay Shah. Mr. Sanjay, if you can unmute yourself and ask the question. Hello, I'm audible, I suppose. Yeah. Hello. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, thanks for the opportunity, sir, and, congratulations to the team Aster for fantastic performance and very nice presentation and deep explanation. So my question was regarding our, CapEx program, what we have lined up for 1,700 bed, and where 60% will be from brownfield. So, sir, what, currently, what is, what, what is the approx cost for a brownfield project, and what CapEx we are going to incur for adding this 1,700 bed? Thank you, Sanjay, for your question. So, the 1,700 beds, on overall basis, the CapEx or the project cost, we are looking into something like INR 1,200 crore. So out of INR 1,200 crore, INR 1,200 crore plus has already been incurred in the, you know, last 2023 and 2024 year, right? So we're expecting the additional INR 1,000 crore to be incurred in the year FY 2025, 2026 and 2027. Now, coming to your specific question on brownfield expansion. So if you have already an hospital, like, say, our Aster Medcity Hospital with 750 beds, or say, we have a Kannur hospital with 300 beds. So in both places, we are doing a brownfield expansion of 100 beds plus. If you have an existing hospital and you're able to do a brownfield expansion, we are looking at a cost per bed of something like INR 50 lakh per bed. 50 lakh per bed for brownfield. That's great. Right. So it's by 2027, even after adding 1,700 bed and reach the benchmark, we'll be still a debt-free company, right? So that was my point, too. So is there... Have the management added any plan on the board to do some expanding the reach for labs and clinics, even pharmacies? So I just want to add here to what Sunil also mentioned, and Sanjay, to your question. You know, as a strategy, I think our focus will continue to be expanding more on hospital segment. While the other new businesses, like labs and pharmacies, we look at more as a ecosystem for us to support our hospital business and, you know, continue to help us hospital business deliver higher margins. So in that fashion, naturally, that expansion will be linked to where we put new hospitals and where we expand our geographies. But I think as a, you know, as a company, our focus will continue to be more on expanding hospital business, which is the core business for us. That's great, sir. Very helpful. Thank you very much, and good luck to you all. Thank you. Thanks, Mr. Sanjay. The next participant in line is from Mr. Amey. Amey, if you can unmute yourself and ask the question, please. Amey, if you can unmute yourself. Hello, am I audible now? Yes, you are audible now. Yeah. Thank you so much, and congrats on a good set of numbers to the management. So the first question I have is if you can explain the ARPOB growth drivers for the quarter; it has been in double digit. So that is the first question. And the second one, on the P&L side, we see some sequential uptick in the employee cost. If you can highlight the key reason for the same. And, yeah, thank you, sir. Thank you, Amey. So on your first question related to ARPOB growth. See, ARPOB growth, you know, my speech at part, there are many levers which is driving. The first one I would say is the ALOS reduction, right? So ALOS usually, Aster India, ALOS used to be around 3.4. ... And now in the quarter one, it has reduced to 3.2, right? So that has, again, ALOS has resulted majorly in the change in your scheme mix. For example, we had stopped our schemes, specifically in Calicut and Medcity sometime two or three quarters back. So there we are seeing that because scheme patients usually stay longer as compared to our cash patient or a PPA patient. So the ALOS has been a very, I would say, one of the important reason why our ARPOP has grown. Second, I would like to attribute to our Aster Whitefield Hospital. If you look at last year, same time, we had only the women and children block operating, right, with only 50 beds, and that was generating only ARPOP of INR 44,000 plus. But now in the quarter one, we have complete multi-specialty, the A, B and C block, with 350 beds completely operational, due to which, you are doing completely multi-specialty, right? So you're doing oncology, you're doing neurosurgery, you're doing plastic surgery. So with all this, multi-specialty coming in, ARPOP has grown to almost INR 70,000 per day. So these are the two main factors. In addition to this, the price increase is something which we, you know, it's contributed only to 3%-3.5%. But in addition to this one, it's also a case mix. We are doing more robotic surgeries. If you know that, last year, you know, full year, we have done more than 1,200. But what I see is that in only the last quarter, we have done more than, you know, 400-500 surgeries. So keeping all this case mix, the ALOS, the revenue augmentation, which is what we have taken, our new hospital, Aster Whitefield Hospital, which has really done well, all these have been really added to our ARPOB growth. Yeah. Is it possible to highlight the occupancy level in the Whitefield and the Bangalore specifically? Yeah. See, Bangalore overall is something like 62% occupancy, and specifically your the Bangalore Whitefield Hospital, the Aster Whitefield Hospital, is something like 65% occupancy. You see, scope for the further increase? Yeah, yeah. See, this is only 350 beds. Out of that, we still have 40 beds yet to operationalize. In addition to that, you also know that there is a Block B in Aster Whitefield Hospital, still under the works, right? So it is again, a, you know, leased asset, which we took sometime in the last year, October 2023, and we have started, started work on that. That is expected to operationalize sometime in, this year, right, in the last, in the later part of this year, financial year. So keeping that in mind, this current 350-bed hospital is going to become a complete full-fledged 500+ bed hospital. So keeping that in mind, there is still big scope to increase the operational beds and indirectly increasing the occupancy and revenue. Sure. Just last question, if I could squeeze in. If you see the expansion plan, around more than I guess close to 1,700 beds we are adding over the next three years. However, almost 900 of these beds are coming into Tier 2 cities like Kannur, Ongole, Trivandrum, Kasaragod, et cetera. So how should we seek or think from the ARPOP growth perspective from going ahead, considering the ARPOP in these particular cities could be low? See, uh- Um, sorry. Go ahead, Prash. I was just talking about the strategy that we have here. Basically, as a company and as a business model, we would like to be well diversified across metro as well as non-metro, because we see non-metro as an area of opportunity for long term, whereas we see, you know, sizes, sizable capacities coming in metro. The non-metros, like what in Kochi that you see, you know, our flagship hospital and, Calicut and other places, you know, we are able to command a leadership position in these markets, you know, and, and because of our early entry and the quality of service that we are providing. That is supporting us, you know, on the ARPOB growth as well as, you know, the volumes that we are seeing coming there. And maybe, Sunil, if you want to add on that further, please. Well, also Hitesh- Yeah. Yeah, I think, Amit, one thing I wanted to extend on what Hitesh is saying, right? It's a pretty much a balanced approach, right? We do have a lot of beds that are coming in, as part of the brownfield expansion within, for example, the Whitefield, CMI. So it's a twin effort between the ones which are in tier 2, tier 3 cities, as well as our, core clusters like Bangalore. So there is... I think that helps us kind of maintain the ARPOP growth, because the metros are giving us that increase. Maybe to, you don't get that extent in some of the tier two, tier three cities, but since we have both growing, we feel that we, we will still be able to see a reasonable ARPOP growth from, from this combination, like what Hitesh said, growing scale with the tier two, tier three cities. Because when we are taking a longer term view, that's where we can see a real kind of exponential growth happening for the company as well. Sure. Thank you so much. I will join back with you. Thank you. Thanks, Amit. The next question is from Mr. Pinaki. Mr. Pinaki, if you can unmute yourself and ask the question. Hello, sir, am I audible? Yeah. Hello? Yes, you are audible. Yeah, yeah. Good morning to everybody. Sir, actually, my first question is, if you just come to page 15 of your investor relations slide. So actually, there you have mentioned that maturity-wise, the hospital performance, where we find that mature hospitals, which are over six years, they are having an occupancy of 66%, and those between three to six years, it is 82%. So actually, can you explain why is it this trend that the mature hospitals have lesser occupancy than the ones which are in the maturing stage? Thank you, Pinaki, for the question. So, so if you look at the hospitals which are under the band of three to six years, there are only two hospitals. One is our Aster RV, which is in Bangalore, which is with the 240 beds, and second one is our Aster MIMS, Kannur, right? So MIMS, Kannur, if you know the history, when we started in sometime in FY twenty-..., you know, this hospital hit the occupancy of something like 80% within three to six months itself, right? So from there on, it has been running at an occupancy of more than 94%. Literally speaking, we are not able to take complete patients. We are diverting the patients from Kannur to Calicut and Kottakkal Hospital, right? So keeping that in mind, that's where the expansion is happening in the Kannur. Already, we are ready with 100 beds, and that's expected to operational sometime this quarter. So, specifically, this is 82% only because you've got one hospital, Kannur, which is doing more than 94%. So otherwise, if you remove that exceptional thing which is going on, then it would be similar to the, you know, over 6 years. Okay, okay. Also, many of our major hospitals, we are in expansion modes. So you will see that, in near future or in medium future, you will see the new capacity is getting added to these hospitals. So while the occupancy percentage may remain at similar levels, but I think the overall absolute occupancy will keep going up with the number of beds addition happening. So I think, that is a trend that you might see continuing to happen as we go on. Okay. So my next question is to the following slide, like, where you have outlined that whether the CapEx plan is the number of beds which you are intent to grow from till FY 24. So what is... Actually, while selecting a new hospital to be built up, and what criteria does it go in selecting whether it will be our own hospital or a leased one? So, Pinaki, we don't really have a, you know, view towards or the alignment towards to say, "Okay, we have to do only greenfield project, or we want to only do the lease project." It also depends on the geography and the revenue model which we really align. At the end of the day, we try to ensure that whatever the projects, either a greenfield project or a lease model, we try to ensure that our capital allocation is something which is very efficient, right? Try to not put too much CapEx per bed. At the same time, we also look for the return on investment, how fast we can break even, how fast we can get into a good EBITDA margin, and how the ROC can get into double digits, right? So the whole objective also the IRR base, right? So it's all about to ensure that, whatever we are doing, it's more of a capital efficient and the return on the, you know, investment efficient. That's it. But we are not aligned. For example, in our Aster Whitefield Hospital, you know, we were able to put across 500 beds and only INR 76 lakhs per bed. But if you want to do a greenfield project there, it will cost you more than INR 2-2.5 crores, right? So it's all about that. Okay. So just, just for this reason, last question, sir. What is the amount of cash and liquid investments you are having in your books now, and how do you plan to deploy it? Currently, our cash and cash equivalents, as mentioned in our earnings presentation, it's around INR 1,700 crore. Okay. As of now, we have not yet decided yet on how we deploy it. Yes, we are looking at a lot of inorganic opportunities and, looking at the various, you know, acquisition opportunities also. And accordingly, you know, in due time, we'll be able to inform you on that. Okay. Fine, sir. That's all from my end. Thanks, and all the best, sir. Thank you, Mr. Pinaki. The next question is from Mr. Amrish. Mr. Amrish, if you can unmute yourself and ask the question, please. Thank you for the opportunity. Amrish Kacker, individual investor. My first question is on the O&M asset-light model. So in the past, we've had some mixed success, Tirupati, and not so great in Mandya. I'm looking if you could give some more color on where we are in our thinking on O&M asset-light, primarily to understand, is this going to be a route to add more beds going into the future? And if so, then when that might be. Dr. Nitish, would you like to take up this? Doctor, you're on mute. Oh, yeah. Amrish, thank you. Thank you for that question. You know, earlier, Sunil had mentioned that our strength is in the... We have 70% of our business in Tier 2, Tier 3 cities. India presents a humongous opportunity in that space, right? Of course, metro is also another area where we can, we have demonstrated as a group, we have demonstrated recently also in Whitefield, we had a large hospital and been very successful with all the financial parameters off the charts. So in that sense, metro is a key area for focus. A lot of opportunity for in the future lies in the Tier 2, Tier 3 cities. But there's always an inherent risk of how do you kind of ensure, because our model is a quaternary care model. We believe in developing quaternary care model in the smaller towns, not the primary and secondary, but quaternary care. So to do that, the talent availability is the biggest challenge. We can put up infrastructure, patients can access it now because of various insurance. Insurance penetration, private insurance penetration is increasing. Even the government initiatives in terms of Ayushman Bharat and all, like, stability, affordability of the patient is there, but the talent, acquisition of talent or retaining the talent in this geography is a big challenge. So we don't go on our own and deploying our hospital in Tier 2, Tier 3 cities, we have started with O&M model, exploring the opportunities, try to understand the market. Few of them have paid off well, like Tirupati. Now it can be scaled to a regular-sized hospital because we have understood the geography, we have understood the market and the availability of the talent, and that, Tirupati Hospital presents, presents the opportunity to scale up to a regular hospital. So similarly, in, one of the hospitals in Kerala has presented a similar opportunity, but we have, have faced some challenges in two other hospitals. But there are a lot of learning now. This will last one or two years, been a lot of learning, but, we are confident we are still working on that model. But right now we are, put a pause. We are not acquiring more O&M model, but we are studying this present model. We probably need one more year time to understand the O&M model going forward in the Tier 2, Tier 3 cities. If it serves well, I think, because healthcare is very dynamic. What holds good price back now doesn't hold good, things change quickly. We are confident because opportunity presents in Tier 2, Tier 3 cities, especially to deliver the quaternary care. Probably in a year or two, we'll get a more clarity. Right now, we are studying this model closely. ... Trying to understand better. No, thank you, doctor. So just to make sure I understand that, so broadly, I mean, we'll still try to make sure we get the model right. So I think for another year or two, we should not think about this as a- Yes. -big growth. That's okay. Yeah. Second question is just, I think raised by a participant earlier on the employee cost, quarter-over-quarter. I know there's a INR 2.9 crore ESOP charge that might be there, but is there any reason for a INR 20 crore odd jump Q-on-Q on employee costs, excluding doctors? Sunil? Sunil is... Sunil, is he just, If I can then slip in another one while we're waiting, just a simple one. Yeah, he's come back. He's there. Ah. He's there. Okay. He's back. Sunil, you missed on this question about the manpower cost. Q on Q, INR 171 crore-INR 190 crore. The sum is off, I guess, but that's INR 3 crore. Employee costs excluding doctor. Hi, Sunil, can you hear us? Am I audible, Sunil? Yeah. Yes. Yes. Have you listened the question? Yeah, sorry. We are not, I didn't hear the question, sorry. Amrish, can you repeat the question? Yeah. So question is on employee cost. I think this was asked earlier, between INR 171 crore to INR 190 crore, Q on Q. Is there any... Is that the rate we should assume or what, how should we look at that jump? I think he's not there. So, Amrish, you know, to some extent, the employee cost increase is largely with the link to revenue growth and also, you know, with the, we've been working on expansions as well. So it's not completely out of the cards here, right? As the revenue will go, as the number of beds are going to go up, you know, to some extent, the absolute number on the cost may still go up while keeping the overall percentages broadly in line with, and that's what is helping our margins also to continue to move up, indicating that our overall percentage employee cost is not going any adverse way. There could be one-off ESOP cost, which maybe Sunil can explain once he join again, and we can probably have him give that response again on that. Okay. Thank you. We would like to highlight that we would be giving preferences to attendees who have not asked a question before. So in that line, the next question is from Mr. Harit. Amrish, if you can go back, join the queue. Yeah, hi. Harit, if you can, Yeah. Yes, sir. Yeah, yeah. Good morning. Thanks for the opportunity. Hope I'm audible. Yes. So, my first question is on the, labs and pharmacy segment. We've seen a, marginal decline on a YOY basis, and at the same time, you've commented that the lab segment has, recorded a 15% YOY growth. So it appears that the, pharmacy segment has seen a decline. So any color you could provide on that? Decline in, what exactly you're talking? You're talking in- The revenue for the labs and pharmacy segment, there's a 3% YOY decline. Yeah, so Harit, that is primarily because our wholesale part of the business, to an extent we have, you know, we were working on a strategy where we outsource some of this wholesale business, and that is resulting in this reflection on the number. The idea is to ensure that our EBITDA margin remains intact, you know, or improve, for the overall retail pharmacy business, and that's part of our strategy, and which is what has got executed here. Okay. Second question, on the pharmacy business, on the entity which operates the retail stores, Alfaone, where we have around 15% stake. So, looking for some color on the majority shareholders here, are they financial investors? What are the terms? Are we guaranteed some sort of returns for them and exit timelines for them? So that's what I'm trying to understand. Mr. Wilson, would you like to take this up? The other investors on the pharmacy business. I think Sunil will have a better understanding about that one. Okay. So, uh- Okay, yeah. Sunil can respond to that once he's back, but these are all individual investors who hold a smaller percentage, you know, in the pharmacy business, individually. These are all individual investors, so there is no other institution that is holding a major stake over there, Harit. Harit, we'll come back to you. I think Sunil is just having some IT issues, so just on a couple of those questions, so we will come back to you separately and share the responses. Yeah? Okay, okay. And then, one for you, Alisha, on, you know, various media reports around the company being in discussions with private equity funds for a capital infusion. So I understand you may not be able to talk about the details here, but share some broad thought process, you know, around what the promoters are thinking. Are the promoters looking for an exit, or is it a primary infusion for a minority stake that you're in discussions with? So some color here would be helpful. ...So Harit, like you said, I can't really comment much on the market speculation. The only thing I can mention is, of course, we are quite geared up to expand the India network. There is no intention from the promoters to exit. I think the only thing we are quite keen on is building Aster India, and like I mentioned in my opening remarks as well, our chairman's vision has always been: How do we become one of the top three? So just looking at the right opportunities in terms of mergers, acquisitions that are available, that will help us facilitate. So we're just being opportunistic on that, looking, keeping our eyes open. We could not really focus in on any of this until the GCC segregation was over. I think, since that has given us kind of a cleaner slate now, it just opens up for other combinations and opportunities to be explored. Hopefully, we'll have something more concrete to mention in the next couple of quarters. All right. Thanks for that. Last one, on the O&M satellite hospitals that we have, you know, we've disclosed a break even for that cohort of around INR 2 crore EBITDA. Just trying to understand if this is after the revenue share with the partner, and what kind of margin trajectory we can expect here, net of the revenue share. Trying to understand, you know, if this can go to the kind of margins that we have at our mature hospitals. I'll let Dr. Nitish come in. Yeah. But just to your final question, I don't think... I mean, we don't expect the margins of our own hospitals, but, Dr. Nitish, please. Yeah. Like I mentioned, Harit, earlier, this vendor model is around the Tier 2 cities, Tier 3 cities, in the smaller towns, where we are trying to develop a quaternary care facility. Obviously, in comparison with metro and larger cities, the financial parameters will not be up there. Like, if you are looking at if, a large hospital in Bangalore can do EBITDA margins in close to 30%. This, we are expecting in a range of fifteen, in that, around that range, 15%-18%, or if we can take it to 20%, well and good. But, we are, at present, we are aiming to take it, some of the hospitals are at around 11 now, 11, 12, but, we are aiming to take it somewhere close to 20. Definitely, it can't be compared to a hospital as in metro cities. Sunil, if you could elaborate on that O&M model. The question was, the performance of the O&M model in terms of the financial parameters, what can be expected vis-a-vis the- Yeah. Thank you, doctor. Apologies. Am I audible, doctor? Yeah, you are audible now. Thank you. So apologies, first of all, there's some network issue here. So going back to the O&M hospitals, see, logically, this is in the Tier 3 cities, and we don't take... He's been having a major problem. For 100-150 beds, say, expansion, what we are doing here, and usually the investment also has been very less, you know, so less than INR 10 lakh per bed is our investment in these hospitals. 15% and not more than that. At the same time, our ROCEs are going to be double-digit. For example, in all of our 4 hospitals, Mandya Hospital and other hospital is taking some time to get into the, you know, cash break-even. But when you look at our Aster Narayanadri Hospital in Tirupati and Aster PMF Hospital in Kollam, we are able to, you know, really hit the margins are double-digit EBITDA margins, and also ROCE has also reached more than 15%-20%. So that way, these are very ROCE accretive, more than EBITDA accretive. So these margins you're sharing are after the revenue share? Just want to confirm that. Yeah. No, this is operating EBITDA. If you look at- Okay. If you want to say, okay, after the, these are all post-index margins, which I am referring to. Okay. Okay, understood. Thanks for that. Thanks, Harit. The next question is from Damayanti. Damayanti, if you can unmute yourself and ask the question, please. Hi, good morning, all. I hope I'm audible. Yes. Okay, I have two questions. First, material cost improvement is one of the key driver for the improvement, which we have seen for the June quarter. So just want to understand, further room to increase on this, or, you have, say, like, achieved some sort of, optimum number here? I want to understand this part better. Damayanti, can you just repeat your question, please? Yeah. So, my question is, material cost as a percentage of revenue improvement is the key driver for the June quarter performance, if I understand correctly. Yes. I just want to understand what kind of room is further available to improve on this metrics? Yeah. Thank you, Damayanti, for the question. You see, material cost is something which we have been working for last three years, right? So, due to COVID, we had, this, you know, basically the, central buying unit, what we created internally. And, you know, you know, I would also bringing synergy across the volumes, what we wanted to do. We wanted to do almost in FY 2020, but due to COVID, the plans moved to sometime in FY 2022 and later. So last two years, we worked really hard to ensure that, you know, 70%-80% of our procurement, is done centrally, and, only we give the rate contracts to the units. Only 20% or less than 20% is procured locally as of now. And also, we worked on, reducing the innovator share, and also trying to reduce the number of brands to ensure that we are able to get the best price among the, you know, the vendors or the, you know, brands which we finalize. Now, 21% is not really the best if you ask me. We can still have a squeezing of another 100 basis points is something which we can still do. ... Now the next level of optimization will come through the standardization of the materials and also the optimization of the consumption. So that is something which we are working on. And also, if you know that even ARPOB is also low, as low as, like, 44,000, right? So hitting 21% itself is a real tough task, but something which we are able to do because of the good support from our clinicians, good support from our unit heads, right? So there is a coordinated effort to drive the optimization in material cost. So we expect another 100 basis points is something there is room if we are able to work on the consumption. Okay, that's clear. My second question is one clarification. In your opening remark, you mentioned 3.5% price hike, which you have taken. That's only for Kerala cluster, or it's across the network? So, we don't take, at one go across all hospitals, right? Because, it all depends on the geography and the departments and the hospitals. So there is no, you know, timeline to say, "Okay, this hospital, every hospitals will take a price increase only in April." So we spread it across the year, and, in different geographies, we take a different correction. Because it also depends on why... If I'm market leader, then I, I should be the first one to really take, take up the price increase, right? So it all depends on the market mix, geographies, and also the case mix, which helps us to, do the pricing this year. Okay. If I can add in here, this is Sunil there. The price revision has become now strategic initiative from the hospitals. It's not kind of a fixed initiative. We, because the cash patients who pay out of the pocket are a little bit sensitive to the price revisions, we take into consideration the kind of work we do, kind of specialties we have, and the geography we are present. Based on that, it's a local strategy. Earlier it used to be kind of every year we used to take a price revision to cover the inflation, but now it's not the case, because the insurance penetration has increased in the larger metro cities. Insurance penetration, we have patients up to 60%-70% are insured patient. So those are all kind of we have a fixed contract with the insurance companies for two or three years. But cash patients, we strategically take, depending upon the, are we a price leader in the market, or what is the price leader do in that market where the price leaders are another group, we closely watch, and then the kind of work we do and what value proposition we bring in. We, based on that, we make the decision. Sure. My last question is for Alisha. Alisha, if you can share your thought on reducing this promoter pledge. So, looking at the latest number, around 98.87-ish pledge. So what are your plans like? How do you want to think about it? So, Damayanti, yeah, definitely, I think our goal is towards reducing that. We're hoping that towards the close of this year, towards the end of the... Alisha, I think you're on mute. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah, so, Damayanti, I think our efforts are towards reducing the pledge definitely. There is a goal towards kind of reducing it towards the close of the year, so we're working towards that. I think, yeah, that's the goal. Definitely, making sure that we can reduce the pledge further so. Sure, Damayanti, so it's just an optical number that appears. You know, the loan itself is quite smaller, and the pledge that is required is much lower there. But because, you know, it's, it's an overseas loan that has been taken on holding that is, you know, for an Indian entity. So it looks, in form of 100% pledge, while that is not really needed over there. And as Alisha mentioned, you know, that problem will also get probably solved by the end of this financial year. Sure. Thank you. I'll get back in the queue, and all the best. Thanks, Alisha. The next question is from Mr. Kunal. Kunal, if you can unmute yourself and ask the question, please. Kunal, can you hear us? Yeah, Kunal, can you unmute yourself and ask the- Yeah, I am audible now. Yes. Yeah. Thanks. Thanks. Most of my questions are answered. Just one question again on ARPOB. So, you know, now just looking 3 or 4 years ahead now, see, some of the moving parts seem to be optimized already. ALOS is already at 3.1, for both your clusters, and even your cash plus insurance is close to 88%. So I don't really see a lot of upside here. So just wondering, you know, how do you see the ARPOB moving in the next, you know, 3-4 years? Kunal, thanks for your question. See, with respect to ARPOB, is something which I called out in the earlier also, right? Our majority of business is in non-metros, and that also means that we have a capacity to grow in our ARPOB as compared to metros, right? So if you're in a metro entity, we have already reached INR 75K-80K ARPOB. That is also with the 40-45% insurance. There's always... I'm not saying that metros don't grow, but there is always a limitation of the you know, the percentage at which we grow. If you look over historically from FY 2018 to FY 2023, we have been growing at a ARPOB of more than 8%-9%, you know, CAGR. And we see that, yes, this quarter has been very tremendous. Even the last year, we grew by 10%. This quarter is almost 12%. ... I understand it's like in a double-digit growth. Question: is it sustainable? What we see is that with the change in the case mix happening, then the ALOS getting stabilized, and we being more in non-metros, the scope which we have, to in increase the price and increase the growth in the ARPOB, we see that still in the future, I'm talking about medium term, between 3-4 years, we should be really able to grow at at least 78%. I think that is something which is very much possible. Twelve percent looks very high, but I completely understand because it is linked to majority of the case mix. Sometimes, you know, nowadays, you're seeing that many of the patients wants to get into only the single room. There are a lot of changes which is happening. But on a blended basis, on a next 3-4 year number, I think 7%-8% is a very decent growth, which an organization like us can really, you know, grow on. Would it be fair to say that 3%-4% will be coming from price and the remaining largely from case mix? Around 3%-3.5% is something which we always look for price increase growth. And even insurance, right? Even though we have 30% insurance, it's not that every year you get, but every two years you can really get a double-digit price increase growth there also. Got it. Got it. Thanks. My other question answered. Thank you. Thank you, Kunal. The next question is from Mr. Alankar. Alankar, if you can unmute yourself and ask the question, please. Alankar, can you hear me? Then we'll take up the next question. The next question is from Mr. Nikhil. Nikhil, if you can unmute yourself and ask the question. Yeah. Hello, am I audible? Yes, you are audible. Yes. Thank you for giving me the opportunity, and congratulations on great set, great set of numbers. So my first question is, like, how are the talks with the promoters in Andhra going on? Like, in last quarter, you mentioned that you-- about the performance in Andhra, that you were going to talk with the promoter. So how are the talks going on there? And my second question is: has the GCC sale impacted our international patient volumes? Can I take this question, Nitish? So I'll answer the second question first. Second question about the has the GCC sale affected the international patient inflow? No. So we have a brand presence in GCC. Over time, the inflow of the patients from the GCC to India was independent of the GCC's patient referred from the GCC hospitals. But post aggregation, nothing much has changed, but we are further evaluating opportunities there, because at present, we are not concerned about the dip in the numbers. We are looking at how we can up the numbers moving forward, because strategically we are segregated. There's more incentive for the GCC hospital to kind of refer the... The agreement it says that they are more incentivized to refer patients to us now than before. So that strategy might also might take few months. But at this present, the first quarter, at the coming quarters, we don't see any impact to GCC patient. First question. Second, second question. The first question about engaging with the promoters. We are in constant engagement with the promoters of Andhra. We are very confident that in coming quarters we will see a drastic change in the performance. We already see it in the first quarter. Because the change in the political situation there has helped the present management there to kind of engage with the government scheme patients and all. Earlier we had to stay away from the government scheme patients there, but now we've taken initiatives to open up the government scheme patient, which is a norm in Andhra. Also, with the renewed economic activity in Andhra Pradesh, around Vijayawada and Guntur, Amaravati, being now it's going to be the capital of Andhra Pradesh. That also will help us in picking up the activity in the Andhra, especially Andhra Pradesh Hospital. You will see the results in the coming quarters, which... Okay. So, sir, my next question is about our inorganic growth plans. So are we concentrating on geographies like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, or somewhere else, too? Nitish, repeat the question. Sorry, can you please repeat the question? Sir, for the inorganic growth- Yeah. Are we looking at geographies like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, or somewhere else, too? So our prime focus continues to be South India. We are the dominant player in South India with the second largest number of beds right now, and aspiring to become largest, you know, through our expansion plans and M&A opportunities. So the first focus area continues to remain, you know, expanding in the geographies where we are or the adjoining states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and we are evaluating opportunities in these regions. I think for us to enter into North India, I think, we would be, you know, you know, selective on which state we would like to get into, and I think Uttar Pradesh definitely becomes one of the good option. But I think that's probably a step that, you know, would be taken in, you know, kind of more of, you know, as a long-term strategy, I would say long- to medium-term strategy. Our near-term strategy will be more focused on continuing to expand within South India. Sir, my question is on valuations, like, what are the multiples that we are looking at to pay for a hospital, to acquire the hospital as a multiple, per bed or multiple in EBITDA? ... Yeah, so we would, you know, be very cautious in, you know, the M&A that we are going to do. Obviously, we are not keen to overpay on any of our, M&A opportunities. I would not get into multiple level discussion right now, because that varies across, different kinds of hospitals that we look at, different geographies, whether we're looking at in metro or non-metro, you know, the capacity size and multiple other factors. But, I think from our strategy perspective, we are quite clear that we would be looking at hospitals which are in or land parcels or, you know, the other lease opportunities where we can create larger hospitals. Which should be at least 350-400 beds, and that can expand to 500 beds plus. You know, the idea is not to definitely you know, overpay on those kind of opportunities. So there are opportunities available in different formats that we are evaluating, including you know, acquiring land or you know, taking on lease, build-to-suit models, as well as you know, M&A opportunities in these regions. So we are evaluating multiple of those opportunities, and we will get back on the right time as we- Okay. As we shortlist anything. Yeah. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. That's it from my side. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. The next question is from Mr. Alankar. Alankar, if you can unmute yourself and ask the question, please. Yeah, yeah. Hi, thank you for the opportunity. Sorry, I was unable to unmute earlier. Just a follow-up on this question on expansion and M&A. Alisha, when you spoke earlier about becoming bigger, vision to be amongst the top three players and looking at different opportunities, so would that mean that versus acquiring standalone hospitals, acquiring or merging with chains would be a preference for us? Thanks, Alankar. So as I mentioned, it's a little bit hard for us to kind of predict exactly the, you know, what would be the path forward. I mean, definitely, if you are looking at merging with a platform, that would save us some time and help us accelerate the growth. So we are keeping our eyes open. Like I said, there are multiple opportunities that are there in the market, so we're evaluating a few right now. And like I said, I think in the next couple of quarters, we would be able to come back with a much firmer view on this. We've only had the last few months to really kind of start looking at it very actively post the segregation. But what you're suggesting is something which is, of course, a preference for us, because that would help us kind of fast-track our growth as well. Understood. The second one is also a follow-up on the discussion on AP Telangana. So yes, we have seen some improvement sequentially in margins, maybe even lesser on a year-on-year basis in AP Telangana. But the performance is still significantly, or the margin profile is still significantly lower than the other two clusters. You spoke about, sir, Nitish, sir, about giving it a few more quarters as we had highlighted in the previous quarter as well. So, I mean, how should we look at it from a quantitative standpoint? I mean, should we expect AP Telangana's margins to reach, say, closer to mid-teens over the next few quarters? If it really goes to that level, would that mean that, I mean, progress is on the right track and, I mean, possibly there's an opportunity to scale up margins even beyond the mid-teens number? Yeah, Alankar, I'd like to... When you say Andhra and Telangana, I would like to specifically the Telangana piece, because Telangana, we have a smaller hospital in Hyderabad. It's called Aster Prime. It's a, it's a small format hospital. It's not a large hospital. It's in the metro. It's small. It happened long back, 10 years back, with the acquisition, we had taken a small-sized hospital. The, the parameters there will be at par with, any metros hospital. But in terms of the EBITDA margins, because of the size, there might be a limitation in terms of, margins, what we can get there from that hospital. Our mid-teens is something which we'd be comfortable. Though it's in a metro, the prime hospital, we can reach there, around mid-teens, we'll be happy. Coming to the Ramesh Hospitals, obviously, there is a big opportunity there, which we see now we've seen the environment there. We see an enormous opportunity, and we have a capacity there, and we have a good bed presence. Like I mentioned earlier, the next two, three quarters, we should see a traction, and we are confident, and we have got the kind of assurance from the management there. The immediate target is to take it, take the EBITDA margins to mid-teen, and eventually, all our efforts is to see if we can take it beyond 20%. Not close to one, not beyond, at least pretty closer to 20% EBITDA margins. That's, that's been, in agreement with the management there. What we see now, in last first quarter, based on the first quarter performance, so we are confident that it's heading in the right direction and should reach there soon. Understood, sir. And, maybe one last question. Can you talk a bit about the whistleblower complaint? What was the exact issue? What can be the risks for the company? And, how are we going to ensure that something like this doesn't happen going forward? Thank you. Who would like to take that question? Sorry, can you repeat that question? About the whistleblower issue, which is- So that is still under investigation, actually, like and so nothing is finalized actually. Like, once we get the investigation report only the board will take appropriate decisions. ... but sir, can you talk a bit about what exactly happened? Maybe the conclusion will be known after a few months, but what was the issue, and what can be the risks for the company? Is it something which is big or pretty small? Because the amount which was mentioned in the previous press release was quite small. Is there any risk of that amount increasing further? I doubt about the volume and all, but this is something related to contracting business activities and all, like some of these whistleblower was related to those activities, and like some of the related party transaction which was not intimated properly, process was not followed, those kind of things only. Yeah. So, Alankar, just to extend to what Mr. Wilson was saying, so yeah, the whistleblower is there. So it was mostly around, giving some business to related parties, some conflicted parties, that wasn't disclosed in the proper manner and the proper channel, in line with the policy of the organization. Again, like, what Mr. Wilson said, the financial impact as we see right now is not significant. But for us, as Aster, maintaining the highest level of governance has always been a priority. So, the board had decided that it is better that, you know, sort of we go ahead and do a much deeper investigation and sort of make sure that, you know, sort of, the whole organization is aware that we would always like to maintain the highest levels of, governance and, integrity, right? So, we don't see any, significant impact on the basis of that, but it was more just making sure that, we are upholding the higher standards. That's helpful. Thank you, and all the best. Thank you. Thanks, Alankar. The next question is from Mr. Sumit. Sumit, if you can unmute yourself and ask the question, please. Hey. Hi, I'm audible? Yes, you are audible. So thank you for the opportunity. So just wanted to get a clarification on, like, what is the CapEx per bed in the non-metros? So, thank you, Sumit, for the question. In case of a non-metro, if it's a greenfield project, we may be able to spend something like INR 1-1 crore per bed, if it's a greenfield project. And if it is like a brownfield or, say, a leased project, we are looking at something like 70, you know, 60-75 lakh per bed, would be the leased one. Okay. Okay. And just, second question is on, like, over the next 3-4 years, how do you see Karnataka, revenue and EBITDA contribution to the overall... Like, what is, what is the, mix of, of these, the 3 clusters in the revenue and EBITDA? Yes, Sumit, you can- You want to take the question? Repeat your question, it'll be helpful. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I'm saying- Yeah, okay. Kerala is 55%, and Karnataka and Maharashtra is around 35%, 38%, the revenue contribution, and 11% is the Andhra and Telangana. So the Karnataka cluster, Karnataka, Maharashtra cluster, because of the new hospital, it's contributing in the increase in the percentage. Right now, it is around 38%. We see it's growing because even Kerala is growing parallelly. I see that ratio remaining, but you never know what happens in the future. There's always opportunity because Karnataka is, growth is basically out of metro city, the growth can be drastic there. In that sense, it might exceed 40% in which we are anticipating for us. But Kerala is also a growth market, so very difficult to predict, but we'll be happy if metro contribution increases. Okay. So you're talking on the EBITDA level, you're saying 40% of Karnataka? I was talking about the revenue. The EBITDA level, obviously, Sunil will be able to... Sunil, can you take a question on the EBITDA contribution percentage? After today, yeah, yeah. I'm audible? Yeah. Yes. Yeah. So Kerala currently contributes, you know, approximately out of what you can see, they are contributing from the margin point of view. From the margin point of view, it's contributing almost 22.7% of the margin in Kerala. And in terms of, you know, Karnataka and Maharashtra, it's around 21%. But again, that includes the Whitefield, you know, blended. But if you remove the Whitefield, again, the margin is 23.2. So that is on the margin. When you look at the contribution saying that, okay, what is the quantum? Out of INR 200 crores, which is contributed by hospitals in clinic, INR 120 crores is contributed by Kerala. That's almost come to 60%. When it comes to Karnataka and Maharashtra, again, it's 35% is the contribution from the EBITDA point of view also. So around INR 70 crore is... I hope you've got an answer. Yeah, yeah. And sir, just one more thing. So with, with the medium term, how do you see your, blended margins going forward? So currently it is in terms of sixty- Yeah. See, currently we are at- Four years. Yeah. Sumit, I think I had put across this specific response previously also. So if you look at our current blended is around 17 points. But only, when you look at only the hospitals percentage. You know, again, we, what we are seeing is that, and also when you look at our maturity performance, hospitals which are above 6 years are doing a EBITDA margin of 23%+. But in the medium term, that is next 3-4 years, what we look at is that at a consolidated level, wherein it's including the owned satellite hospitals, including the labs and wholesale pharmacy, and everything put together, from current percent in to 20%-21%. Specifically in terms of hospitals and clinic segment, which is where we get 94% of our revenue, there we are currently 20.8, and that is something which we can think sustainably. We can maintain something like 23%-24% in next 3-4 years. Okay. Understood, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Sumit. Thanks, Sumit. And now, the next person who's joining the queue is Mr. Adrit. If you can ask your question, please. Can you please unmute yourself and ask the question? Hello. Yeah, hi. Yeah, my question is around the realization, particularly, as the RPOC growth is around 12%, and it was also highlighted that a lot of that is due to ALOS reduction. So if we, like, try to derive a per-patient realization, that's only grown like 6% overall. In a time when it was also mentioned that there's a price increase. And, for the same number, so realization per patient even for Kerala cluster is just 2%. And there was price increase, I believe, also in Kerala. So is it the case that the Kerala cluster, which has for the last eight quarters been given roughly like INR 1.3 lakh per patient revenue, it's sort of going to stay at the same level? The only growth prospect that's gonna come from the cluster is through volumes, because the volumes are still doing well, right? Say, IP volumes are up 11%. Whereas the Karnataka and Maharashtra cluster, there you're seeing healthy volume growth and a per patient realization growth. So, is it the case that Kerala's sort of realization power is saturated, and it's gonna be flat at, like, a level of INR 1.3 lakh? So, Adrit, I'm not sure how you are pulling out the numbers with respect to Kerala cluster. But my suggestion is that, you know, yes, so when you look at, say, quarter 1 FY 2024 to quarter 1 FY 2025, when you look at blended numbers, what I see for IP per patient is increased by around 5%. Okay? But again, that's a blended. That includes your Aster PMF Hospital, which was not there in quarter 1 FY 2024, and it came only into quarter 2. So that is why. And you also know that Aster PMF Hospital and MIMS, you know, sorry, Aster Mother Hospital, both are owned by satellite hospitals. We have to exclude that and then see the margins or the, you know, growth. But when you look at only the Aster Medcity, quarter FY 2024, I'm just putting a number, INR 1.4 lakhs was my average realization per patient. It has moved to INR 1.61 lakhs. That's almost 15% growth. And even same way, if you look at our Calicut hospital, from INR 78,000, it has gone to INR 83,000. Or, say, Kottakkal hospital, it has moved from INR 61,000 to INR 69,000. It's a 14% growth. So blended may not be the right approach because you've got the owned hospital also. We should look at excluding that, and, excluding that, if you see, there's a good growth. And also with respect to price increase, Adrit, as I said, right, we have not taken the price increase across the board at one go. We take different hospitals based on geographic requirement, right? It's left to the business units. We time it in a particular fashion. Keeping that in mind, yes, we expect the growth to continue here, and also because Kerala market is where we have still cash patients in a higher percentage. For example, in our MedCity, still 60%+ is cash patients. And when you go to North Kerala, like Kannur, Kottakkal and all, there it's still 80%. Or, say, Calicut, it's still 70% cash. So that shows that, and also, as Dr. Nitish was calling out very clearly, the future aspiration is in Tier 2, Tier 3 cities. And we see, there is a great demand for quality healthcare, and, keeping that in mind, we can look at the average realization, you know, per IP patient. It can, you know, growing at least a single digit, higher single digit is very much possible in the future, 3-4 years. Right. So just a quick follow-up on that. So what kind of levers would we expect from the Kerala cluster? Because as we know, the institutional mix is anyway lower for Aster. And the specialty, niche specialties are like at almost 60% now. So is price increase sort of the only lever or realization growth in Kerala? And if not, like, is there any kind of specialty mix change that could drive more realization? And then how would that affect margins? Because generally, these high specialties, as it's reported by your competitors as well, tend to drive down EBITDA margins quite a lot. So is it going to be the case? See, not specifically, because even when you look at our you know, hospitals in Kerala, you know, you even look at the oncology growth. Oncology growth has been a very good growth in the last quarter, quarter on quarter. So almost a 31% oncology growth we have, and specifically the cardiology department has grown by 26%. Gastro, right, basically where we do liver transplant, that has grown by more than 21, 22%. So we see that all these super specialty growth expansion is something which is still possible there. And also, look at the you know, high-end cases, because liver transplants, if you look at two years back, specifically in our MedCity, we used to do more, not more than 3-5 transplants per month. Now, we're doing almost 10 transplants. So similarly, we used to not do lung transplants, so lung transplants have started doing it. If you look at DBS cases, two years back, there were no DBS cases three years back. Now we do more than 2-3 cases per month, right? So that way, I think the robotic surgeries, your high-end transplants, you know, DBS cases, the TAVI cases keep increasing. And also at the same time, we are also seeing majority of these certain surgeries, which was used to have a length of stay of, say, 2 days, that's all moving to daycare surgeries. So even when you do daycare surgeries, the pressure on your system will always low. Keeping that in mind, ARPA growth is going to continue to grow, at least in the medium term, at 70%-80% for next 3-4 years. Okay. Will it be, like, margin accretive? Yeah, it's going to be margin accretive. Because, see, specifically if you look at on my brownfield expansion, Aster Medcity is where I have 80% occupancy, near 80% occupancy. With a 100-bed hospital, I'm adding 100 beds. So and also in Kannur, where I'm 95% occupancy, I'm adding another 100 beds there. So when you add this additional brownfield expansion, what you see is that there could be the incremental, or I would say, EBITDA margin growth will be quite high as compared to opening a new hospital. So there we see that, you know, if, for example, Kannur is doing an 18%-19% EBITDA margin, it will go to 21%-22%. So we see, it's all EBITDA margin accretive, basically because you're not adding new doctors there, senior consultants, or, say, new leadership team. With the same leadership team, with the senior consultants, you now need only the junior doctors and the bedside, you know, you know, I would say, staff, like, say, nurses or technicians. Got it. So, like, the non-census bed share, you're looking for a significant increase, I guess, in the next 3-4 years. Is that right as well? I didn't get that. You're saying non-censors? Yeah, the non-censors for daycares. Right. The non-consensus bet where you see- Yes. a healthy increase. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. That is the future. Dr. Nitish, you want to add on the daycare bit of it, please? Yeah. Just, you know, covered most of the aspects, Sunil. What I would like to add here is, see, the hospitals of the future, yeah, I do hear the concerns from some competition that, high-end cases dilutes the margin, which is the case when, you do the high-end cases in lesser volumes. We are talking about, large hospitals that in which center above 300, and doing the 60%-70% quaternary care work. It is going to be margin accretive. It will not dilute the margins, because we are able to spread the assets and, and, leverage on the expertise available. Because of the, this, these kind of cases can be consolidated. It's not a local affair, right? Treating the Quaternary Care is not a neighborhood activity. What it tends to do is it has attraction across the globe, international patients across the state. So in that case, the large hospitals, large hospital, when I say large, large, it means beyond 300-bed, doing 60%-70% Quaternary Care work, which is eventually going to be, which is, has to be margin accretive. And also the insurance coverage of the Quaternary Care work is improving. And the reimbursement rate also is very healthy now. In that sense, most of the cases, at least 20%-30% of the care patients were out-of-the-pocket expense patient, where we couldn't operate on those or treat those patients because of unaffordability. But with insurance coverage, I mean, typical example is the onco work and also the robotic work what we have been doing. These all have become very affordable now because of the enhanced insurance penetration. And also the patients willing to go for the single rooms, upgrade themselves and go for the single rooms because of the insurance coverage. So all is adding up to drive the ARPA margins. And also daycare, Sunil mentioned, on most of the quaternary care work is migrating towards daycare activity. In that sense, it puts lesser pressure on the system in terms of manpower, equipment, and other resources required to support the services. So now, as the hospitals are kind of, because we have been a late entry to the market, our hospitals are designed to be future-proof, and we can accommodate the requirements of the future. In that sense, I think we are confident that most of our hospitals in Kerala will continue to deliver the performance of... In fact, deliver better performance in coming months. Okay, thanks a lot. Just quickly, a very quick one, Thanks, Adrit. We have some more queues. Is it okay if we can- Sure, sure, I'll join back. Due to the time constraint, we would like to take only one question per participant. The next question is from Mr. Rohan. If you can unmute yourself and ask the question. Rohan, if you can unmute yourself and ask the question. Hello. Yes, we can hear you. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much, Sunil. So, I have two questions. One is, if you look at your slide 25, right, in terms of the expansion plan that we have, no, sorry, slide 15. So, my question was, you know, we have around INR 1,000 crore of cash. On an average, we are generating around INR 500 crore or so of operating cash flow post-tax every year. So my question to you is that, what is our capital allocation plan going ahead? One is, how much CapEx would be required for this addition of 1,700 beds that we have, you know, highlighted in the slide 15. And also, you know, there were some talks on private equity infusion. While you don't want to comment on it, I mean, what I want to understand is that for the current expansion plan, both organic and inorganic, I think we have enough cash as well as operating cash flow, which is in place. So dilution or bringing in private equity would be not for that expansion, right? Just if you can, you know, help on the capital allocation part, that would be very helpful. Sure. Alisha, should I take it or... Yeah. So, you know, regarding the cash, you're right. I think we have nearly INR 1,500 crore of cash, residual cash from the GCC restructuring transaction. You know, and then India business is also generating healthy cash flow. As we are seeing, you know, the full year EBITDA was over INR 600 crore, and, you know, I think the performance is continuing to improve. The CapEx requirement that we have is nearly INR 1,000 crore for all these 17 net beds, so that basically clearly indicates that the India cash flow will more than be sufficient to take care of the CapEx requirements going forward. So you're right, we don't need immediate further funding, you know, for our investment plans. So basically, you know, any further dilution, we are definitely not looking at unless dilution is happening naturally, as Alisha was highlighting. You know, if there are some share swap opportunities and which leads to addition of assets or, you know, which leads to, you know, a probably a potential merger or integration with another, you know, platform, that could only lead to dilution. But we are not looking at, you know, dilution in form that we intend to raise cash and then, you know, utilize that for M&A opportunity, because the company has enough cash right now. Coming to the utilization of cash aspect, we discussed, we are looking at these opportunities right now. In a year's time frame, if we are able to utilize it, well, you know, we would use them for these opportunities, and if not, I think we would also find a way to return it back to the shareholders. Thank you so much, Hitesh. One more question on your slide 25, right? While, you know, a lot of questions have been asked on cluster wise, what is your strategy going forward? But quickly, if you can summarize for each of the cluster, three clusters, when we talk about next three years' absolute EBITDA growth, what are the top two drivers for each cluster, right? Because, for example, Kerala, ALOS, 3.1. Beyond that, you know, to lower, go lower beyond that is very, very difficult. So then what would be the drivers there for absolute growth of EBITDA? So if you can give a cluster-wise kind of a summary, that would be very helpful. Puneet, I'm not sure. Would you like to take this question? Because we have a time constraint. Hitesh? No, I'll add to that, Puneet, not an issue. Thank you, Puneet, for the questions. With respect to Kerala cluster, you know that our occupancy is quite good there, right? 75% in the current quarter. You know, that's also low occupancy because bottom is always muted growth, and also April, we had the Ramadan, and June we had the Eid also, right? So usually, the, you know, occupancy always will be low during the quarter one. Now, in the future, from future point of view, already you know that, Kerala is already doing a margin of 22%+, and with the ARPM of around near 40,000, right? So, our EBITDA margins are always in direct link with your ARPM. So if I say broadly, if you're at something like a INR 60,000-70,000 ARPM, then you can look at a EBITDA margin of 30%. And if you are near 40,000-50,000 ARPM, then you are looking at a EBITDA margin of something like a 25% on an average. If you are sub INR 30,000, then you're looking at a EBITDA margin of around near 20%. See, that is what we look at broadly, you know. So when you look at Kerala, which is currently INR 42,000 ARPM with a decent growth rate of 78%, we see that with the current EBITDA margin of 22.7%, it can really mature at 25%. So that is something which is possible for Kerala cluster. Now, where is this margin going to come up from? Yes, material cost is something we optimize in a very big way across the clusters, but the future, you know, thing will happen through a manpower optimization. If you also know that the last 2-3 years, you have seen the growth at more than 30% growth we are doing EBITDA, when the... And also in top line also. That is the reason why we went and almost, you know, stabilized at 75%-80% occupancy at the cluster. And if you want to ensure that the margins are growing, that's basically are going to happen in the manpower. Because when you have a very rapid growth, you can't rationalize the manpower at the same time. If you try to grow faster and then rationalize the manpower, then you will going to start hitting the patient service, right? So that is something which we don't want to do. So that's where we never worked on the manpower. So the future expansion with this, one is the, Brownfield expansion is going to add to your bottom line, and second is your manpower optimization. So these are the two things which we see in, you know, EBITDA, you know, margin optimization. When you come to Karnataka and Maharashtra cluster also, you know, we just have a new asset coming in Whitefield. With Whitefield asset, which is just, 8-9 months old, right? We are already doing at a cluster margin of more than 21%. If you just now, even if you remove the, cluster, you know, Whitefield Hospital, then look at the margin already at 23%. But yes, cluster margin is something like around INR 60,000 now, near INR 60,000. But we see that, that is again including other hospital in Maharashtra, which is again a Tier 3 city. If you exclude that, you know, the, specifically that, then you are already at a EBITDA margin, sorry, ARPM of more than INR 70,000 in Karnataka and Maharashtra. So if you are something at INR 70,000, specifically in Karnataka, Maharashtra, you can look at, my EBITDA margin something like near 30%. So that is something which is possible. Again, here also, we optimize material big, big way, and considering Aster Whitefield is a new hospital, manpower cost will be higher. Even other hospital also, like, say, CMI, RV, our occupancy is still 60% plus. So once we start to go to 70 or 75%, manpower cost will really come down. And with that, operating leverage, we should be able to increase the EBITDA margin there. And Andhra Telangana, anyway, Dr. Nitish has already called out previously. Currently, it's at a low at 10%, but it has got a potential with a 30,000 ARPOB go up to near 20% margin. I hope that answers your question, Puneet. Yeah, very much. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Dear all, due to the time constraint, we would like to close the call here of this, this quarter end. We would like, we would love to take the questions separately after this call. With this, thank you all. This concludes the earnings call for the quarter of, for Aster DM Healthcare. I thank the management and all the attendees, for joining us today. If you have any further questions and queries, please get in touch with us. Thank you. Thanks, everyone. Thank you. Thanks, Puneet, for update. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye. Thank you. Thanks, Puneet, for update. Thank you. Thank you very much.