Mariwala starts second venture in wellness space

Marico Founder and Chairman Harsh Mariwala has started his second venture in the wellness area with the setting up of AquaCentric Therapy – a chain of physiotherapy centres that will use land, air and water elements for healthcare.

“I am passionate about innovation, pioneering as well as preventive healthcare. And AquaCentric is about all these three,” Mariwala told BusinessLine.

AquaCentric is a personal venture of Mariwala, funded by Sharrp Ventures, his family office. Each centre entails an investment of about ?4-5 crore and the first facility has come up in Mumbai’s suburban Andheri, spread over 7,000 sq ft. Another one is in the offing at Worli, while two more centres will come up in Thane and Powai.

“We will consider pan-India expansion later,” he said.

What led Mariwala to foray into this wellness business — the second after the hugely successful Kaya Clinics — was the total absence of aqua centres in India even though there are over 3,000 such facilities overseas.

“So there is a huge untapped potential in India. And we saw that we could extend it to neurology, orthopaedics, gynaecology and pediatrics. The idea was to have a holistic rehab centre,” he said.

For AquaCentric Therapy, Mariwala has collaborated with renowned physiotherapist, Dr Amit Kohli. “The duo combined their expertise to introduce a one stop therapy centre that is first of its kind in the country with a vision to help individuals who are suffering from various physical conditions in an efficacious and effortless way,” a company release said.

Accordingly, each centre will have a medical gym, therapeutic pools and other underwater equipment. Aquatic Therapy uses properties of water such as buoyancy, which helps decrease pressure on joints; water temperature, which helps in relaxation and pain reduction; turbulence that helps improve body balance and core stability, while viscosity aids in progressive resistance to aquatic exercises.

Offering specially curated therapies for individuals as well as groups, the centre will cater to every individual’s needs and provide end-to-end rehabilitation experience, which helps in muscle strengthening and generating body balance, the release added.