National, 24th March, 2026: AHH-owned Nova IVF Fertility is expanding its footprint in Kerala through a strategic acquisition of a 30-year-old, most trusted fertility provider - Craft Fertility. This collaboration will see the launch of 10 new centres over the next 3–5 years, blending Nova's rapid growth with Craft’s trusted clinical excellence to provide advanced fertility solutions across the state.

This acquisition builds on Nova IVF’s momentum of growth and expansion. By integrating advanced IVF lab capabilities, international standards of care, and AI-driven embryology are set to deliver even more precise and superior clinical outcomes for couples. 

“Craft Fertility is a treasure trove of clinical excellence. Dr Ashraf has made phenomenal contributions in this field for over 40 years. This is not just an entry for Nova in the state of Kerala, but access to 4 decades of transformative clinical practices in reproductive medicine. The science of reproductive medicine is advancing at a very fast pace globally. The strong clinical and patient-centric approach followed by both enterprises promises to bring more advancements to fertility & IVF care to patients in the country,” said Vishal Bali, Executive Chairman, Asia Healthcare Holdings (AHH). 

“This partnership arrives at a critical juncture as Kerala's fertility rate has dropped to approximately 1.35–1.7 children per woman, well below the replacement level of 2.1", said Prof. Dr. C. Mohamed Ashraf, Chairman and Medical Director, at CRAFT Hospital & Research Centre. “Since 1999, CRAFT Fertility has been committed to providing ethical, evidence-led care for thousands of couples. Our partnership with Nova IVF is built around a common ethos of 'clinical excellence.' As the fastest-growing IVF chain in the country, Nova is the right partner to help us scale quality fertility care into tier 2 and tier 3 regions of Kerala. Together, we will also focus on clinical innovations and cross-collaboration through our multiple fellowship programs." He added.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Shobhit Agarwal, CEO, Nova IVF Fertility, said:

“We have long admired Craft Fertility and Dr Ashraf for their leadership in clinical science related to reproductive health. Their IVF treatment protocols are respected across the country and we are delighted to partner with them for our expansion in the state of Kerala. With the drop in fertility rate in the state there is growing awareness of fertility treatments in Kerala and we believe this partnership will provide new generation clinical protocols and technologies like AI based embryo selection to IVF patients in the state. Collectively, we will expand our presence to 10 cities in the state.” 

India currently performs 2.5–3 lakh IVF cycles annually. Over the past decade, the science of IVF in India has evolved significantly, moving from a niche treatment to a more widely accessible and technology-driven solution for infertility. 

Advances in reproductive medicine including improved embryo culture techniques, vitrification (egg and embryo freezing), preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), and the integration of AI-led embryo selection have enabled improved success rates. Today, fertility care is increasingly personalized, with protocols tailored to individual patient profiles, leading to better clinical outcomes.