Metropolis Healthcare Limited, a Mumbai-based chain of laboratory and diagnostic centres, is looking at investing around Rs 75 crore this year to set up 15 laboratories and 75 collection centres in India.
"We will be funding this Rs 75-crore investment through internal accruals," Ameera Shah, managing director and chief executive of Metropolis Healthcare, said adding that it costs around Rs 1 crore to set up a lab and around Rs 50 lakh for a collection centre.
Currently, the company has 70 labs and 500 collection centres, which are spread across 200 cities and towns in India. "We are planning to add 75 collection centres and 15 labs every year over the next few years to support our aggressive expansion plans," she added.
"India, which currently lacks in quality diagnostic care, has a lot of untapped potential. So, we are looking at penetrating deeper into the Tier III and Tier IV cities and smaller towns in India," she said. The well-equipped labs would be located in cities such as Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chennai, Kochi, Bangalore, Amritsar, Patiala and Gurgaon, etc.
The company is targeting a 40% year-on-year growth. "We have been seeing a good growth over the last few years. And with our lined up centres and labs, we expect to see a 40% y-o-y growth in the coming years," Shah said.
Metropolis Healthcare, founded by Dr Sushil Shah in 1981, has recorded Rs 350 crore turnover in the year 2011-12. It now has 85 plus diagnostic centers and 600 plus collection centers across India, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Middle East. It had raised $85 million (around Rs 375 crore) from Warburg Pincus, an US-based private equity firm, in June 2010.
It has opened its first green field venture, its new laboratory and testing facility in Madhapur at Hyderabad to tap the diagnostic requirements in Andhra Pradesh, which will cater to about 75 lakh population in the city.
The diagnostic laboratory industry, is estimated to be about Rs 10,000 crore in India and is largely fragmented and unorganised. The organised players including Metropolis Healthcare constitute about 15% of the total market size.
