Dr Batra's looks to take 'clinic in clinic' model to more countries

Homeopathy clinic chain expects faster growth on the back of global expansion, newer product ranges

Dr Batra’s is betting big on international markets and its range of fast-moving consumer goods as the country’s biggest chain of homeopathy clinics looks to double its revenue growth rate. In FY18, the Mumbai-headquartered company reported Rs 2.25 billion in revenues.

“Our business is not growing as much as it should. It hardly grew 9-10 per cent in the past two years as we expanded too fast. We are now looking to consolidate and grow around 20 per cent in the current financial year,” said Mukesh Batra, the founder of the healthcare chain, in an interaction with Business Standard. 

The Rs 50 billion organised homeopathy market has been growing 30 per cent Y-o-Y for the past two years. The government's proposal in the 2018-19 Budget to increase the outlay for the ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) by over 13 per cent to Rs 16 billion also gives homeopathy firms a bigger field to play.

In the ongoing financial year, Dr Batra’s is looking at expanding to two new foreign locations for which it has shortlisted three geographies including Malaysia, Doha and Greece. It is looking at various models including ‘clinic in clinic’, franchise or partnership in these countries. The company is already following the ‘clinic in clinic’ model in Bahrain with KIMS Global chain of hospitals where it has a centre for homeopathy treatment inside their premises. Dr Batra is currently present in five global locations including London, Bangladesh, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Bahrain, and international markets account for around 10 per cent of the company’s revenues.

“The healthcare system is designed only for one form of medicine. Hospitalisation, diagnosis and insurance are only meant for allopathy treatment. It should become more inclusive. People must have a choice of treatment, including homeopathy,” said Batra on the ‘clinic in clinic’ model.

The Indian homeopathy clinics chain has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the UAE government to establish homeopathy clinics in over 60 daycare centres in West Asia. Backed by these global expansion, the company is looking to double its international revenues to 20 per cent in the next two years.

One of the chain’s competitors, Mumbai-headquartered Richfeel, already has a presence in London, Italy and Israel through partnerships. Beauty and wellness firm VLCC, which is looking to raise Rs 7.50 billion through an IPO, is also giving competition to Dr Batra's in the UAE.

Dr Batra’s is also looking to reach about 10,000 outlets from the current 6,000 through its range of wellness products including hair care, skin care and personal care. The company is also narrowing down on locations to set up a new manufacturing unit for its over-the-counter products. It already has one factory near Mumbai. 

“Our products range grew 60 per cent last year. We will be continuing with the strong growth by adding 35 new products and variants to the current range of hair care and skin care line,” said Batra.

Last month, Dr Batra had launched a new initiative called geno-homeopathy, a combination of genetics and homeopathy in which a sample of the saliva is tested to assess hidden risks and diseases a patient is likely to get affected in future. This will help start preventive treatment much earlier, said Batra. 

For this, Dr Batra’s has also set up a gene bank in association with global genomics company GeneStore, which has invested $1 million in the project. The chain, which has a 1.5 million patients base, is targeting to touch 100,000 lives through this initiative in the first year.