New Delhi : Diagnostic services provider Dr Lal PathLabs is looking at expanding its presence pan-India to be a key driver for the next phase of growth for the company.

While deepening its presence in the North Indian market where it already has a strong presence, the company is looking to scale up in other parts of the country as well.

"Banking on our near leadership in northern India, we are assertively moving into other potentially good geographies, the first of which will be East and Central India where we believe the operation is at an inflection point," Dr Lal PathLabs CEO Om P Manchanda said in a conference call.

For the rest of the country and particularly in the South and West, the company is taking a cluster approach by growing around cities and towns where it sees potential and in the long term building towards a regional reference laboratory model, he added.

"With our investments in regional reference laboratories in Lucknow and a larger one in Kolkata, we are confident that we will be able to fully deploy our hub-and-spoke model to great efficacy," Manchanda said.

As on March 31, 2016, Dr LalPath Labs has 172 clinical labs, including a national reference lab in Delhi, 1,559 patient service centres and 4,967 pick-up points.