(Image source from: Apollo group of hospitals raided by Income tax department})

The income tax department has conducted raids at hospitals owned by Apollo Hospitals Enterprise over alleged tax violations. Apollo’s official public relations agency confirmed the raid was happening.  Income tax department officials, too, have confirmed about the raid, but refrained from divulging the details. The raid started at 8 am on Tuesday.

"Yes. It is going on (raids on the Apollo Hospitals Group) since morning. About 50 teams have undertaken the raids", a top official said. They said some documents relating to the company's businesses and patient services logs were seized and are being looked into.  

The company’s spokesperson said that, “The I-T department visited our hospitals today and we extended our complete cooperation to them. We have always conducted ourselves with the highest degree of diligence and we would like to reassure our patients, shareholders and stakeholders that we shall uphold their trust and faith in us.”

The hospital chain has 64 hospitals with a total bed capacity of 8,985.  The Apollo Hospitals stock price rose by 1.35 percent on the BSE to close at Rs 1,466.75 a share.Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals, founded by Dr Prathap C Reddy, is one of the popular and largest healthcare service providers in the country.

By Premji