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Medispa
Birla Kerala Vaidyashala to Go International
The Kuala Lumpur centre would be housed in 2,000 square
feet area in a mall
Harshajeet Kuroop |
Birla Kerala Vaidyashala (BKV), which runs a chain of 30 ayurvedic
medispa centres across India, is soon starting medispas in Malaysia, Sri Lanka,
Singapore and Australia through the franchisee route.
BKV, which is a joint venture between the age-old Kerala Vaidyashala and Rs
3,000-crore Yash Birla Group, would open its first international centre in Kuala
Lumpur. This centre would be housed in 2,000 square feet area in a mall. Says
Harshajeet Kuroop, Managing Director, BKV, "As we are a new entrant in
the market, we will adopt franchisee model, forming joint venture with a local
companies there."
Asked about the role of franchisee, he said, “The franchisee would provide
all the infrastructure only and BKV would provide technical help, manpower and
run the centre. Marketing activities would also be done by BKV." The international
packages would customised based upon the country's clientele. The range of these
packages would be from Rs 3,500- Rs 28,000.
BKV is also exploring opportunities in other countries., "We are also looking
for setting up such centres in Sri Lanka, Australia and Singapore." All
these centres would be housed in a mall, where there is more floating population,
unlike India where such centres are housed either in a hospital (Apollo Glenagles's
day care centre in Kolkata or as standalone centres). Asked whether the same
Indian packages would be offered to the international centres, he said, "We
would start with offering the same packages as we offer here except for minor
changes as per the requirements there," said Kuroop. About employing manpower,
he said, the technical team would comprise Indians and for marketing we would
hire the local people.
The group has announced plans of setting up 200 medispa by 2012 at a cost of
Rs 50 crore. Of this, it proposes to use 25 per cent of the funding to cover
three southern states — Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. From
30 centres at present, the group has set a target of opening 20 more centres
by the end of this fiscal. These centres are coming up in both tier I and II
cities. In the pipeline are two centres in Chennai (one was opened recently),
two in Mumbai (10 already present), one in Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Nashik and Aurangabad.
"The focus would be more on metros as study shows that urbanites are more
stressed and thus require rejuvenation," says Kuroop. The group is right
now keen on strengthening its presence in North India. It has also received
approval from Rajasthan, Goa and Madhya Pradesh Governments to set up medispa,
where the land would be provided by the Government."We would want to explore
Eastern part of the country also in the future. We have received some invitations
from them already," he added.
For tier II cities, the cost of packages would be economical, starting from
as meagre as Rs 290 as against package in urban areas which start from Rs 1,500.
"We would also reduce on manpower and infrastructure, so that we can offer
this economical packages," informs Kuroop.
Besides spas, the group is also working on making its range of 350 Ayurvedic
medicine available at various outlets. "We are looking at tie-ups with
tie-ups with pharmacies, so that our products are more widely available,"
says Kuroop.
EH News Bureau
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