Neuberg Diagnostics to invest Rs 300 crore for expansion

Mumbai: Neuberg Diagnostics, an alliance of five leading pathology laboratories from India, South Africa and the UAE, is planning to invest Rs 300 crore in India, the Middle East and Africa as part of its expansion plans.

"We are looking at investing another Rs 300 crore for expansion plans in the coming years, which will be funded through internal accruals," Neuberg Diagnostics chairman GSK Velu told here.

The company having focus on new generation technologies in the diagnostics space, according to Velu has already invested Rs 450 crore in acquiring laboratories in India and abroad and upgrading them.

Neuberg at present has 50 labs and 500 centres in the south and west India and plans to increase the total count to 150 labs and 1,000 centres in the next three years.

"We will have three world-class global reference laboratories located in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, and Durban (South Africa) carrying out advanced range of testing using new generation in vitro diagnostics techniques," he said.

The company sees faster growth in African markets and plans to enter into Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania and Ethiopian markets.

According to Velu, new generation technologies like genomics, metabolomics and proteomics that provide accurate diagnosis and also combination diagnostics, where hospitals, pharma companies and pathologists work together, is the future of the diagnostics industry.

"India is lagging behind in terms of technology and we want to focus in those areas," he said.

An alliance of five top laboratories like Anand Diagnostic Laboratory, Supratech Micropath, Ehrlich lab, Global labs and Minerva Labs, the company plans to have three infrastructure models global centre of excellence, regional reference centres and satellite centres.

It also wants to establish research centres in the US and European markets, to get access to latest technologies and bring it to India, according to Velu.

"Talks are on with some universities and small labs in the regions," he said.

The company, which is growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 15 percent, clocked a consolidated revenue of Rs 400 crore last year and hopes to cross Rs 1,000-crore mark by 2021-22.