Metropolis Healthcare plans to expand footprint in country

Metropolis Healthcare, a multi-national chain of diagnostic centers, is planning to expand its India footprint by adding 12 new laboratories and over 75 new collection centers with an investment of close to Rs 70-80 crore. The company is also mulling an initial public offering (IPO) in the next two to three years.

As for the current expansion plan, it would be funded from internal accruals. Metropolis Healthcare recently opened a laboratory in Ahmedabad, near Asarwa to facilitate faster turnaround time and maximise consumer reach. Metropolis has been present in Ahmedabad under banner of Sanket Metropolis for more than five years.

With the goal to tap the interior markets of Ahmedabad and its adjoining areas, the lab will now facilitate patients from smaller towns in the interiors to avail quality laboratory testing locally, the company said in a statement. This is Metropolis' seventh company-owned laboratory during the financial year 2012-13. It will cater to a population of around 15 to17 lacs spanning neighbouring areas like Asarwa, Shaibaug, Meghnaninagar, Naroda, Saraspur, Bapunagar and towns like Kalol,Gandhinagar & other small towns. Commenting on the occasion Ameera Shah, MD & CEO, MetropolisHealthcare said, "The city is growing at a very fast pace and so are the changing needs and demands of its inhabitants." The company is also looking to add brown-field laboratories in the tier II and tier III cities like Nagpur, Cochin, Amritsar among others. It is looking at acquiring companies in Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh and West Bengal.