Lupin Diagnostics, a subsidiary of global pharma company Lupin Limited, launched a regional reference laboratory in Bengaluru on Wednesday, its 25th lab in India. The company said it will have labs in Mysuru, Hubli and Mangalore in the present fiscal year to deepen its network in south India.

The company is focused on providing fast turnaround time along with affordability to its customers, Lupin Diagnostics CEO Ravindra Kumar told ET. “Bengaluru is a tech-savvy place, we see it as a market where there are a lot of national and regional players. Karnataka though has low penetration of diagnostic labs in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, which is why we want to launch here” he said.

Along with their newest lab in Bengaluru, the company is launching two more labs in Siliguri and Raipur, bringing the total number of labs to 27 by Wednesday. “We currently have more than 400 collection centres. By FY 2024 March, we hope to expand our network to more than 1000 centres,” said Kumar.

While the company has plans to venture into the digital space, they remain committed to developing their current hub-and-spoke model. Lupin plans to launch an app in the next six months to facilitate at-home diagnostics, said Kumar. “We already have a website to enable faster booking and a helpline. All of these will enable faster diagnosis, but they won’t be a separate segment,” he said.

Diagnostics is a growing market in India, with several players rapidly expanding their reach across the country. While there are 1.1 lakh labs in India, only 27% of those are actually certified, said Kumar. “Small shops should join the bigger ones so that today’s unorganized diagnostics sector becomes organized,” he added. The company, he said, is open to inorganic acquisitions as they aim to be amongst the top five diagnostics providers in the country in seven years.

Lupin reported a 72% decline in profit in its last quarter results. Revenue, however, grew 3.9% to Rs 4322 crore, out of which the India formulation sales contributed 36%.