Ameera Shah, Promoter and Executive Chairperson of Metropolis Healthcare Ltd, is widely recognised for her leadership in building one of India’s leading diagnostic chains, while steering the company with a strong emphasis on governance, scale, and long-term sustainability.
For Ms. Shah, being a public company places governance at the very top of the priority list. She underscores that strong governance will continue to remain critical for Metropolis Healthcare. At the same time, creating value for shareholders remains central to the company’s direction. This, she explains, comes from maximising efficiency, being innovation-led, introducing a large number of new diagnostic tests, and steadily moving up the value chain. The intent is to offer services that are genuinely important for patients and doctors, which she believes is key to keeping the growth engine running through sustainable organic growth.
Acquisitions will continue to be part of Metropolis’ strategy, but with a clear filter. Ms. Shah notes that the company will pursue acquisitions only when they feel strategically right. The focus is not on adding businesses purely for revenue, but on ensuring true strategic alignment. Alongside this, Metropolis will continue to expand into new auxiliary areas that complement its core operations.
On technology, Ms. Shah points out that while digital technology is currently far more widely used than artificial intelligence, AI presents a much larger opportunity for the future. She believes this will be an area of strong growth for the company, while emphasising the need for careful and selective adoption. Ethical usage of AI in healthcare, she stresses, is the most important consideration in deciding where and how it is deployed.
Ms. Shah also addresses the broader issue of women in leadership, noting that women fundamentally want to be treated democratically. She highlights how subconscious bias often affects perceptions—when women are decisive or direct, they may be viewed as arrogant or difficult, whereas similar behaviour in men is often labelled as strong leadership. Acknowledging that women are frequently the primary caregivers, she says healthcare organisations must ensure that policies and professional practices are equal. The expectation, she adds, is not for favours, but for the removal of bias.
Ms. Shah says, “Women leaders are here to stay and they are only going to grow. They better get comfortable with it.”
Expansion remains ongoing for Metropolis Healthcare. Ms. Shah says the company will move beyond its presence in 750 cities by the end of the year, expanding into many more locations. The company has recently launched its Centre of Genomics, with acquisitions and geographical expansion planned alongside the continuous addition of new diagnostic tests. She sees genomics emerging as a major driver for Metropolis in the near future.
Ms. Shah was honoured as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2015 and has been featured multiple times on Fortune India’s “Most Powerful Women in Business” list between 2017 and 2021. Ms. Shah was also named among Forbes India’s Tycoons of Tomorrow in 2018 and received the Ernst & Young ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ Award in Healthcare in 2021.
With leaders like Ameera Shah shaping the future of diagnostics, India’s healthcare sector is rapidly advancing with a strong focus on governance, ethical innovation, and sustainable growth, strengthening the country’s position in the global healthcare landscape.
