SRL Diagnostics today said it plans to more than double its headcount in North East to 300 employees over the next five years as it looks to set laboratories in each state of the region.
"We want to reach to every remote part of the country. As part of this objective, we are looking to expand our operations to reach out to people in North East. We will be doubling our lab strength in next five years," SRL Ltd Chief Executive Officer Sanjeev Vashishta told PTI here.
The company runs seven labs in North East and it will be increased to 15 by 2020-21, he added.
"Accordingly we will hire people also to have smooth operations. From about 120 people currently, our manpower in this region will go up to 300 persons in the next five years," Vashishta said.
He said these people will be directly on company rolls and the number of people engaged with SRL through its associates in indirect means will be "five times higher".
"To fund our expansion, we will invest about Rs 70 crore in North East. In the next two years we will pump in Rs 25 crore, including Rs 10 crore this fiscal," Vashishta said.
Elaborating on the expansion plan, he said it at present operating four labs in Assam and one each in Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram.
"In this fiscal, we will open labs at Kohima, Itanagar and Shillong. In the next five year, we will be present in each state of North East," he added.
Vashishta said the company plans to set up a reference lab in Guwahati within next two years having all diagnostic facilities.
Besides, the company has 54 collections points at present in the region and it will go up to 200 in next five years, he added.
On revenue expectations, the CEO said: "In last fiscal, the North East contributed Rs 25 crore and the company is looking for 20 per cent growth in 2015-16. By FY16, we will have Rs 100-110 crore of net sales from the region.
