Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited — Q3 FY26
Apollo Hospitals delivered a strong Q3 FY26 with consolidated revenue of ₹6,477 crore (+17% YoY), EBITDA of ₹965 crore (+27% YoY), and PAT of ₹502 crore (+35% YoY).
bullish
high
✓ Verified against BSE filing
Claim Ledger
Did management answer the analysts?
Every material analyst question, graded on whether management actually answered it — with the verbatim exchange and quantitative claims checked against filed numbers.
71%Questions answered1Evaded / deflected12Questions auditedMixedNumbers vs filing
Partial answer
High priority
Updated thoughts on INR 150 crore cost headwind from hospital ramp-up.
Asked by Binay Singh, Morgan Stanley
Management confirmed the INR 150 crore figure but deferred detailed quarterly guidance to Q4.
deferred to Q4 for more detailno quarter-by-quarter breakdown
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Question
Last time we discussed about INR 150 crore cost headwind coming out of this ramp-up. Any updated thoughts on that? How much of it is already built into these numbers? How much should we expect in the coming quarters?
Krishnan Akhileswaran, Group CFO
We continue to believe that INR 150 crore is a good number for now. Currently, in the embedded numbers, we have approximately INR 15 crore of losses in the overall reported numbers for Pune and Asansol.
Answered
High priority
Reason for sequential drop in digital business GMV and revenue-to-GMV ratio increase.
Asked by Binay Singh, Morgan Stanley
Management provided specific reasons and quantified the GMV impact.
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Question
Just on the GMV of the digital business, we've seen a sequential drop in GMV. And in fact, our revenue-to-GMV ratio also went up. Could you share your thoughts on that?
Sanjiv Gupta, CFO Apollo HealthCo
On 21st of September, we had a very large reduction in the GST on the pharmacy... resulting into GMV impact of roughly INR 30 crore-INR 35 crore a quarter. And secondly, we had one channel of e-commerce, which was Amazon... we stopped that business... Accumulated impact of these two would be roughly INR 75 crore for Q3.
Partial answer
High priority
Revenue base for digital business and cash EBITDA break-even guidance.
Asked by Neha Manpuria, Bank of America
Management explained growth drivers but pushed break-even target by one quarter without giving a specific revenue base.
deferred break-even by one quarterno specific revenue base given
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Question
Can you take us through what should be the revenue base for the digital business? What drove this moderation? And second, from a guidance perspective, do we still keep our guidance for cash EBITDA break-even for the digital business?
Madhivanan Balakrishnan, CEO Apollo HealthCo
Our pharmacy online business... has actually grown by 32%. On our forecast about our ability to close it in Q4, given this insurance story... we will be able to close this loop in Q1 of FY27.
Answered
High priority
Bed operationalization timeline and ramp-up for new hospitals.
Asked by Karan Vora, Goldman Sachs
Management provided specific bed numbers and timelines for each hospital.
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Question
How many beds will be operationalized in Q1 and how will the ramp-up look like?
Krishnan Akhileswaran, Group CFO
Sonarpur around Kolkata is 225 beds. Half of that should get operationalized in Q1. Hyderabad is 300... at least 50% should get operationalized by Q1. Pune... we will add another 100 beds... Gurugram would be by Q2, 200-250 beds. Sarjapur, 150 beds... 100 beds out of that.
Partial answer
High priority
Startup losses for remaining beds and overall cost guidance.
Asked by Karan Vora, Goldman Sachs
Management gave an annual figure but declined to provide quarterly breakdown.
no quarter-by-quarter guidancedeferred to future
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Question
When we operationalize the remaining half... will there be any more startup losses or fixed costs which we need to keep in mind?
Krishnan Akhileswaran, Group CFO
We will have to look at it in a phased manner. There could be a quarter where there is a INR 50-crore loss... we should look at overall at INR 150 crores for the next year.
Answered
Medium priority
ARPP growth drivers and discrepancy between 3% and 5% price growth.
Asked by Karan Vora, Goldman Sachs
Management clearly explained the difference between tariff increase and effective price realization.
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Question
What is driving this growth? And in the opening remarks, there was a mention of 5% price growth, but in the PPT, it's mentioned 3% price growth. So what is that mismatch?
Krishnan Akhileswaran, Group CFO
3% was the tariff increase that we have taken during the year, whereas 5% is the effective price realization... because there were some insurance contracts which got reset also during the year.
Answered
Medium priority
Timing of price increase and whether it drove Q3 growth step-up.
Asked by Bino Pathiparampil, Elara Capital
Management confirmed the timing and attributed growth to both volume and price.
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Question
The price increase and realization increase that you are talking about, did that kick in in Q3, or was it already there in Q2 and Q1?
Krishnan Akhileswaran, Group CFO
It was there in Q2 also. ... inpatient volume growth in Q3 is 4.5% versus last year. ... we have got the benefit of the price realization from Q2 onwards and which has moved into Q3.
Evasive
Medium priority
Negotiation with health insurance companies and empanelment for new hospitals.
Asked by Damayanti Kerai, HSBC
Management gave a general positive statement but no specifics on negotiations or timelines.
no specific details on contract termsvague on delays
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Question
How is your negotiation with the health insurance companies going? ... from your hospital, either for existing as well for some of the new hospitals, how things are progressing on contracting or onboarding of health insurance?
Krishnan Akhileswaran, Group CFO
We have a good relationship with all the insurance companies across. ... there have been some delays in getting certain insurance approvals in some of the markets... but I think we are on course.
Answered
Medium priority
Clarification on GMV adjustments and other metrics changes.
Asked by Damayanti Kerai, HSBC
Management explained the adjustments and clarified that other metrics are unchanged.
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Question
You mentioned the majority of changes happened on the pharmacy post-GST changes. But when we look at other metrics... all of these numbers change compared to what we saw in the September number. So if you can help us understand what all changes were there when you're booking GMV.
Sanjiv Gupta, CFO Apollo HealthCo
When you compare GMV to GMV, this factor has to be taken into consideration... On the diagnostic and the consultation side, there is no change. ... the new arrangement with the hospital is more of a flat fee that we get on a quarterly basis.
Partial answer
Medium priority
Scope for further EBITDA improvement in base hospitals.
Asked by Tushar Manudhane, Motilal Oswal Financial Services
Management listed levers but did not provide any numerical guidance on margin improvement.
no quantified targetsvague on levers
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Question
If you could just elaborate in terms of what is further scope for these hospitals to sort of drive EBITDA going forward, maybe through case mix or payer mix.
Krishnan Akhileswaran, Group CFO
There is a little bit more opportunity on length of stay, reduction through operational excellence... a consistent focus on case mix, and especially in flagship hospitals, making sure that there is an intentional shift to high-complexity cases.
Partial answer
High priority
Sustainability of 10% ARPP growth and margin trajectory next year.
Asked by Vivek Agrawal, Citigroup
Management gave qualitative levers but no quantified margin impact.
no specific margin guidancequalitative only
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Question
10% growth in nine months looks quite impressive. So just want to understand how sustainable it is. ... do you have levers in the existing network that can mitigate the impact of losses in the new units?
Krishnan Akhileswaran, Group CFO and Sriram Iyer, CEO AHLL
We would like to be half on the volume and the balance, half on combination of case mix and pricing. ... we have a headroom for lifting volume and asset utilization by another 8%. ... we hope to minimize the losses coming from new hospitals.
Answered
High priority
Base network margin expansion and impact of new unit losses.
Asked by Madhu Marda, FIL
Management confirmed the margin expansion expectation.
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Question
Base network margin seemed to be 25.3% approximately in quarter three. You're saying that that 25.3 has scoped to go up by 100 basis points. So base network can be above 26% next year. Is that how we should read it?
Krishnan Akhileswaran, Group CFO
Yes.
Quantitative claims vs filed numbers
| Claim | Management said | Filing | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online pharmacy GMV growth of 32% | 32% | 17% | Overstated vs filing |
| Inpatient volume growth of 4.5% in Q3 | 4.5% | 17% | Understated vs filing |
| Keimed EBITDA margin of 3.3% in Q3 | 3.3% | 15% | Understated vs filing |
| 100 basis points margin expansion possible in existing business | 100 bps | 120 bps | Matches filing |
| 30% GMV growth guidance for digital platform | 30% | 17% | Overstated vs filing |
Filed figures sourced from Screener.in. Claims within a small tolerance of the filing are marked “matches filing”.