Scheme for Hospitals / Nursing Homes (PIPDIC)

What is the PIPDIC scheme for hospitals and nursing homes?

Scheme for Hospitals / Nursing Homes is a term loan scheme of the Pondicherry Industrial Promotion Development and Investment Corporation Limited (PIPDIC), a Government of Puducherry undertaking working under the Department of Industries and Commerce. PIPDIC groups it with its schemes for the medical profession, and describes the purpose as financial assistance to entrepreneurs for setting up hospitals and nursing homes, specifically facilities of 10 to 50 beds, and polyclinics.

A hospital is unusual as a lending proposition. It is capital-heavy at the start: land, building, theatres, wards, diagnostic equipment, and its revenue builds slowly as referrals establish. Commercial banks price that risk accordingly. PIPDIC's scheme is the Union Territory's own route for a promoter in that position, and it comes with one condition banks rarely impose: post-graduate doctors must be associated with the project.

That condition is the heart of the scheme. It exists to make sure the facility is clinically led rather than purely an investment vehicle.

How much can be financed?

PIPDIC's published note fixes the maximum project cost at Rs 500 lakh, Rs 5 crore. The loan is worked out against that cost, the promoter's contribution and the projected cash flow.

Interest follows PIPDIC's published structure:

Most hospital projects will sit in the 12 per cent bracket. A 0.5 per cent concession applies to units promoted by women, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe or differently abled persons.

The debt-equity norm for loans above Rs 25 lakh is up to 2:1, so a promoter should expect to bring roughly a third of the project cost. The investigation fee is 0.75 per cent of the loan applied for loans above Rs 25 lakh, plus applicable tax, with a 50 per cent concession for SC and ST entrepreneurs.

Who is eligible to apply?

You can apply if:

• You are an entrepreneur setting up a hospital, nursing home or polyclinic in the Union Territory of Puducherry, including Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam.
• The facility is planned with 10 to 50 beds, or is a polyclinic.
• Post-graduate doctors are associated with the project. PIPDIC treats this as mandatory.
• You are organised as a proprietorship, partnership, private limited company or public limited company.
• You can bring the promoter contribution under the 2:1 debt-equity norm and offer immovable property as collateral.

You cannot apply if:

• Your project has no post-graduate doctor associated with it. This is the scheme's distinguishing condition and it is not waived.
• You are planning a facility larger than 50 beds, or a project costing more than Rs 500 lakh. Those fall outside the published scheme parameters.
• You only want to buy equipment for an existing practice. That is PIPDIC's separate Scheme for Acquisition of Electro-Medical and Other Equipment, with a Rs 60 lakh equipment ceiling for registered medical practitioners.
• Your project is outside the Union Territory of Puducherry.
• You have no collateral property meeting PIPDIC's valuation norms, or you are an existing defaulter with a bank or financial institution.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the hospitals and nursing homes scheme

1. Build the project report around the bed strength. PIPDIC's parameters are 10 to 50 beds and a project cost within Rs 500 lakh, so fix those first and then price the civil work, equipment and working capital against them.
2. Tie up the post-graduate doctors who will be associated with the project, and collect their qualification and registration certificates. Without this the application does not meet the scheme's core condition.
3. Register as a New Customer on pipdic.in and log in.
4. Open the Above 25 Lakhs loan application under Loan Applications, since a hospital project will almost always exceed that threshold.
5. Fill in the application and upload documents; plans, civil estimate, equipment quotations with comparatives, promoter identity documents, constitution documents and collateral particulars.
6. Pay the application fee of Rs 200 online at the end of the submission process.
7. Go through appraisal: PIPDIC verifies the quotations, examines the projections and has the collateral property valued by a Chartered Engineer from its approved panel.
8. Complete documentation after sanction: original and antecedent title deeds, 30-year encumbrance certificate, valuation certificate, patta, FMB copy, tax receipts and legal opinion. Disbursement follows, typically in stages against civil progress and equipment invoices.

How do I check my application status?

1. Log in to your pipdic.in customer account and open the application status view.
2. Quote the application number issued at submission.
3. Contact The Managing Director, PIPDIC Ltd., No. 60, Romain Rolland Street, Puducherry 605001: 0413-2334361, info@pipdic.com.
4. Use the Enquiry or Grievance form on pipdic.in if there is no movement.

Common reasons hospital applications are rejected

• No post-graduate doctor associated with the project.
• Bed strength outside the 10 to 50 range, or project cost above Rs 500 lakh.
• Civil estimate not supported by a proper plan and layout. PIPDIC asks for two copies of the site and factory or building plan with a civil estimate.
• Single quotations for equipment, without comparatives and a justification for the supplier chosen.
• Title defects in the collateral property over the 30-year encumbrance period, or property standing in a deceased person's name without a legal heir declaratory decree from a competent court in Puducherry.
• Occupancy projections not credible against the catchment the facility will serve.
• Existing default with PIPDIC, a bank or another financial institution.

Key dates

PIPDIC does not publish an application window for the hospitals and nursing homes scheme. Applications are accepted through the year on pipdic.in. The Rs 500 lakh project ceiling, the 10 to 50 bed range, the interest rates and the fee rates cited here are PIPDIC's published norms; the interest rate applied is the one in force on the date of sanction, so confirm it before financial closure.

Help and contact

• The Managing Director, PIPDIC Ltd., No. 60, Romain Rolland Street, Puducherry 605001 — 0413-2334361, info@pipdic.com
• General Manager (Administration), PIPDIC Ltd., mobile 9894653835
• Online applications: pipdic.in
• Scheme list: pipdic.in/pipdic_schemes
• Financial norms, pipdic.in/financial_norms
• Documentation checklist: pipdic.in/checklist_doc
• Department of Industries and Commerce, Government of Puducherry: industry.py.gov.in