Lupin announced the formal launch of it’s diagnostics business as part of it’s strategy to provide integrated healthcare in India.
Key points to note –
- The business is housed under a wholly owned subsidiary, Lupin Diagnostics.
- The company launched operations with 11 labs including a 45,000 square feet national reference lab in Navi Mumbai and 200 collection centres in West and East India.
- It targets to open 100+ labs and 1000 collection centres across India in the next 3 years. Further, 90% of the collection centres are planned to be run by the franchisees.
- Company didn’t disclose the quantum of investments into this business.
- Lupin targets to utilise it’s existing relationships with healthcare practitioners to ramp up this business.
- It targets to become the top 5 diagnostic chain in next 5 years.
- The Company has hired Mr Ravindra Kumar to head this business who has a significant experience with Apollo Diagnostics and Dr Lal Pathlabs. Ravindra has already been working setting up this business for Lupin since January 2020.
- Company targets to differentiate it’s offerings by offering more technology and customer friendly offerings e.g., track and trace, insightful reports, temperature control sample movement and also more specialised tests such as molecular diagnostics, cytogenetics, microbiology, serology, immunology and hematology, among others.
Lupin has been building up this vertical for some time now and the whole initiative was actually started before Covid. Covid has further provided the requisite push to this segment.
Indian diagnostics market continues to be highly fragmented and less than 20% is currently controlled by organised players like Metropolis, Thyrocare, Dr Lal Pathlabs etc.
The opportunity does seem huge – however given the increasing interest by old and new players in this business, it would be far from easy for players like Lupin. Consolidation in my personal view would be key and how fast Lupin can move to acquire smaller players may turn out to be the key for Lupin Diagnostics.