India’s Primary Market Braces for Surge of Hospital and IVF IPOs Next Year

By the end of 2026, many healthcare IPOs are expected in India, with approximately ₹20,000 crores being raised through public offerings of hospital chains and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) companies.

The momentum in this sector is being enhanced by continued growth, increased margins, and consolidation of the healthcare industry, which provides an attractive environment for investors.

What challenges and opportunities will this new IPO wave create for both the traditional healthcare investor and the overall financial market participants?

How Did Healthcare IPO Preparations Evolve This Year?

Key players have advanced on their own IPO paths because they have favorable market conditions.

• Manipal Hospitals, which is India's second largest hospital chain, plans to offer an initial public offering (IPO) of between ₹8,500 and ₹9,000 crores.
• Indira IVF plans to offer approximately ₹3,500 crores through a refilled confidentially IPO road show.
• Cloudnine is a Bengaluru-based maternity chain and is in the process of filing for IPO for an amount greater than ₹1,000 crore.
• Paras Hospitals may refile for an IPO for greater than ₹1,000 crore and it’s just one of the many ways we see the continued resilience of healthcare because of the strong pipeline of these companies.

Many also tilted towards a more strategic way of addressing private equity investors’ partial exit through Offer for Sale (OFS) and at the same time, allow the promoters an opportunity to raise at least some fresh capital.

The additional capital raised for support will provide for additional beds, reduction in debt, and growth of operations in a sector that is well positioned for strong demand over the long term. They will benefit from the premium paid for public entities, due to increased liquidity in the public markets, compared to the private market valuations in 2026 for IPOs.

Finally, this list reflects the maturing of the healthcare industry with its consolidation, including hospital chains, to position themselves to take on increased volume of patients.

They will also benefit from the growth of fertility, which has allowed for IVF platforms to enter/invest in a growing industry. These companies have improved their economies and financial fundamentals through continued revenue growth and expansion of margins.

Regardless of the market being volatile, these companies represent a strong first impression at their respective debuts.

Key Drivers Behind the IPO Momentum

While strong sector fundamentals have underpinned the rapid growth, increased access to healthcare has driven steady growth in volumes, combined with improved operational efficiencies across chains, contributing to increased profitability.

Through acquisition, companies are becoming larger and scaling up to create a more attractive model for institutional investors.

Valuation also plays a major role; with listings on public exchanges offering higher multiples than private transactions, private equity firms are looking to exit their investments now, since many private equity portfolios have a five-year investment timeframe and are approaching the end of that period.

This has created a positive feedback loop: strong financials will attract anchor investors, which will allow more capital to flow into the business, which will in turn support continued growth and increase valuations.

Market Implications and Investor Outlook

Despite these ongoing challenges, we see that the diversity of companies, including multi-specialty chains like Manipal alongside niche players like Cloudnine, offers investors multiple opportunities across various levels of risk.

With so many public premium offerings for IPOs, timely filing becomes an incentive to increase listings, and if this positive sentiment about the public capital markets continues, the pace of the healthcare IPO pipeline is expected to accelerate.

The large influx of capital from the upcoming 2026 IPOs will provide a vibrant marketplace for participants in the primary market and provide a counterbalance to any new issuance via OFS.

The key question for investors is how this capital influx will impact India’s healthcare system and how it will generate returns as patient requirements and government policies change over time?

References

Economic Times