Metropolis Healthcare banks on acquisitions to fuel growth

After aggressive organic expansion between FY21 and FY25, when it added nearly 90 labs and more than doubled its patient service centres from 251 to 530, Metropolis Healthcare Ltd is now shifting gears. The diagnostics chain is betting on acquisitions to drive its next phase of growth.

- jessica jani

Ameera Shah, promoter and executive chairperson of Metropolis Healthcare.

India’s second-largest diagnostics chain, Metropolis, has been on an acquisition spree since last year. The Mumbai-headquartered firm last week announced its fourth acquisition in the past 10 months, strengthening its hold in Kolhapur, one of its key markets in western India.

Dr Lal Pathlabs is the largest diagnostics chain in the country.

The diagnostics chain aims to strengthen its business-to-consumer (B2C) reach and deepen its presence in tier-III and tier-IV markets. To achieve a strong hold on these markets, it is banking on regional acquisitions.

Metropolis aims to strengthen its business-to-consumer reach and grow in tier-III and tier-IV markets

"Our guidance was that after FY25, we are not going to expand the greenfield labs as heavily," Ameera Shah, promoter and executive chairperson, Metropolis Healthcare, told Mint in an interview.

Diagnostics is typically a hyper-regional business, so acquiring local assets that are market leaders would help the chain strengthen its presence in different markets.