EBG Group and Universal Fitness Australia announce India expansion plan
EBG Group has announced an exclusive partnership with Australia-based Universal Fitness Group to introduce a new category of integrated health, fitness, rehabilitation and wellness destinations in India, backed by a planned investment roadmap of ₹300 crore over the next five years. The partnership seeks to address a rapidly evolving opportunity within India's wellness economy, where consumers are increasingly moving beyond traditional gym memberships towards holistic solutions that combine fitness, recovery, preventive health and lifestyle experiences under one roof.
Under the partnership, EBG Group will lead development, rollout and operations of Universal Fitness across India. The two companies plan to establish more than 30 premium Health and Fitness Sanctuaries and two destination wellness retreats over five years. Hyderabad and Bengaluru come first, with subsequent expansion into Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Pune and other high - growth urban centres.
Dr. Irfan Khan, Founder, Chairman and CEO of EBG Group, said "India is entering a new era of health consciousness. While the fitness industry has grown rapidly over the past decade, consumers today are looking for far more than access to equipment. They are seeking structured ecosystems that support performance, recovery, preventive health and long-term wellbeing. This partnership reflects our conviction that wellness infrastructure will become one of the defining growth sectors of the coming decade."
Speaking on the launch, Kumar Ramachandra, Founder of Universal Fitness Group Australia, was measured but pointed in his assessment of where the Indian market currently stands. “The consumer in India has genuinely outpaced the infrastructure. We were seeing people who understood exactly what their bodies needed - structured recovery, continuity between fitness and rehabilitation, long-term preventive care - and yet had no single destination that could deliver all of it. That is not a gap at the margins.”
The partnership also carries a significant employment dimension. With each centre expected to hire between 50 and 60 professionals directly - across fitness coaching, sports science, physiotherapy, wellness operations, hospitality, technology support, facility management and community engagement -the network is projected to create thousands of jobs as expansion progresses across cities. As the next phase gets underway, EBG Group and Universal Fitness are finalising site selection, operational frameworks and launch timelines for the first set of flagship locations, laying the groundwork for what both partners intend to build into one of India's largest premium wellness infrastructure platforms.
