Leading ayurveda spa operator Kerala Vaidyashala has said it sold its entire stake in Birla Kerala Vaidyashala to its partner Birla Wellness as part of its plan to exit the day spa segment that it has pioneered. Kerala Vaidyashala, which formed a partnership with Yash Birla group-promoted Birla Wellness in December 2008, has also decided to invest around Rs 50 crore in health tourism, and the stay spa segment while completely exiting the day spa segment, company promoter Harshajeet Kuroop said. The JV, in which Kerala Vaidyashala had 49 percent stake and the Birlas the rest, has been operating 32 day spas in major cities, including 11 in Mumbai. While most of the spas are standalone, it runs one at the Collate Apollo Hospital. Before the JV with the Birlas, Kerala Vaidyashala had opened the country's first ayurvedic day spa, where only out patients are treated, in Mumbai in 1997, Kuroop said. Normally ayurvedic spas admit people as its medication and massage therapies are time-consuming and demand strict dietary controls. Such spas are called stay spas. Elaborating on the his future plans, Kuroop said his focus will be health tourism, mostly based in Kerala, which include building health food and regular nutritious food outlets under the label of Malabar Koast, which opened its first outlet in Mumbai recently. That apart, it will also start naturopathy and yoga centres with residential facility. Kuroop's upcoming projects include a semi-luxury 27-bedded wellness resort in Kerala's backwater capital of Alappuzha, a luxury stay spa with 22 cottages and rooms near Kochi; and a highend luxury resort at Kozhikode with 40 cottages. Kuroop also has plans to set up ayurvedic speciality hospitals, wellness centres in Kerala and Rajasthan. All these projects will together involve an investment of around Rs 50 crore, he said, adding he will pump in 50 percent of this and the rest will be arranged from private equity players.
Source:PTI
Source:PTI
No comments:
Post a Comment