Surprise market winners in Indian states’ diagnostics race

The large, publicly-listed companies like Dr Lal and SRL lose out to new, forward-looking and eager diagnostic labs as Indian states start offering free diagnostics

State and central governments together are in the market to outsource diagnostics worth almost $1 billion

Wipro GE healthcare is leading as it has public-private partnerships (PPPs) with 15 states to provide radiology labs

Pathology lab major SRL, which has 3 PPPs, does not find PPPs profitable

Younger labs like Techmed Healthcare and Core Diagnostics are trying to expand their presence by tying up with Indian states

A little late in the game, last month, Odisha government joined the states that have chosen to offer free diagnostics to people. Every time states say ‘free diagnostics,’ path labs sense a big opportunity. Which is why Dr Lal, SRL and other organised large pathology labs bid for the tender, confident in their chance to win. After all, they have the ability to conduct thousands of tests, keep the prices low and maintain quality in labs.

Except none of the large, publicly-listed companies that dominate major Indian cities won the bid. Instead, 10-year-old Techmed Healthcare walked away with the contract.

AUTHOR

Ruhi Kandhari

Ruhi writes on the impact of healthcare policies, trends in the healthcare sector and developments on the implementation of Electronic Health Records in India. She has an M. Sc. in Development Studies from the London School of Economics.

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