Apollo Hospitals sees 20-25 pct rev rise in FY09 - official

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd sees 20-25 percent revenue growth from its hospital business in FY09, a top official said.

The expansion of 10 hospitals in tier-2 cities is on track and falling real estate prices will help reduce project costs and maintain margins, Suneeta Reddy, executive director, finance, told television channel NDTV Profit on Tuesday.

"Expansion will benefit as real estate prices are going down and 40 percent of our project costs are in real estate..so that is really going to help in the long term," she said.

The company has sufficient funding for growth plans and does not plan to raise debt, she added.

Shares of the company traded down 0.09 percent at 405.50 rupees each in the Mumbai market.