Aster DM Healthcare plans to enter diagnostics business

Aster DM Healthcare, which currently operates 13 hospitals and eight clinics across India, is planning to make a foray into the diagnostics segment in order to scale up business in the country, a top company official said.

The Kochi-based firm, which has a sizeable presence across GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) states, plans to have around 40 standalone diagnostics laboratories in India over the next two years, with the first two outlets expected to come up in Bengaluru in the fourth quarter.

"The diagnostics laboratory business is huge in India and currently, there are only a few organised players in the segment. Our advantage is that we have the trust of the people as we already run so many hospitals here," Aster DM Healthcare Chairman Azad Moopen told PTI in an interview.

The healthcare provider aims to invest around Rs 40 crore on the initiative, he added.

The company plans to have laboratories mainly in Karnataka and Kerala in the first phase, and in the next financial year, establish outlets in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, Moopen said.

Aster DM Healthcare would also look at strategic acquisitions to expand this business and additional capital will be deployed accordingly, he added.

The company is already in the process of investing Rs 750 crore over the next three years to take total hospital bed capacity in the country to 4,500 from the current 3,693 beds.

Aster is coming up with four new hospitals in Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram and Bengaluru and is also expanding its Kolhapur-based hospital. The expansion would enable it to have around 1,500 additional beds in the country.

"We are looking at India operations to contribute 25 per cent of our total revenue over the next 3-5 years. Currently, GCC's share is over 80 per cent when it comes to overall revenues," Moopen said.

Aster's India revenues currently stand at around Rs 802 crore, which is 18 per cent of its overall revenue of Rs 4,115 crore.

The company has also come up with an innovation centre in Bengaluru to support it across markets in introducing new innovations and technology in the healthcare sector.