Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Krsnaa Diagnostics Limited Q1 FY 2027 earnings conference call hosted by Equirus Securities. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Yash Mutha from Krsnaa Diagnostics Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Thank you, Sumit. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. As we begin the FY 2027, I want to start with the larger vision behind what we are building at Krsnaa Diagnostics. We've always believed that diagnostics is an essential part of India's healthcare infrastructure. Our ambition is simple, to make quality diagnostics accessible to every Indian, irrespective of where they live or their ability to pay. The purpose has taken us to parts of India where building and operating healthcare infrastructure is not always easy. Think about what happens in Rajasthan today. A patient gives a sample in a remote location. The sample may travel significant distances across the state before reaching our laboratories, where it is processed, validated, and reported back to the patient. Behind that one report is the infrastructure network, logistics, technology, clinical expertise, and execution working together.
If serving these markets were easy, healthcare access in many parts of India would have already been solved. Someone has to go there. Someone has to build the laboratory network or the imaging network. Someone has to establish the collection centers. Someone has to create the logistics network and connect the technology and the clinical expertise. Krsnaa has chosen to be that someone. What excites me today is that purpose is increasingly translating into business performance. Our revenue grew approximately 22% year on year in Q1. More importantly, our like-to-like projects grew approximately 12%. That number matters to me. It demonstrates that Krsnaa's growth is not dependent only upon winning the next project. The infrastructure that we have already established continues to serve more patients and generate more businesses.
On the same lines, I'm also pleased to share that Krsnaa has recently been awarded the Himachal Pradesh CT project for 34 CT scans across the entire state. This is particularly significant for us because Himachal Pradesh is where Krsnaa began its PPP journey almost 12 years ago. With just 12 centers, our performance and service quality over the years have earned us this opportunity to expand our footprint from 12 to 34 centers. Predominantly, most of this project is going to be a cash paying project. This is a strong validation of something we have consistently communicated. Execution excellence and quality of service create the foundation for repeat business and long-term partnerships. With this award, we have further strengthened our revenue visibility in the state for the next 10 years and given Krsnaa the opportunity to serve the people of Himachal Pradesh for almost 25 years in total.
There is also a third dimension emerging. Our retail business grew approximately 64% year-on-year. Our retail network has expanded to more than 4,000 plus touchpoints, and we are seeing increasing contributions from home collection, wellness camps, digital channels, and our partner networks. For many years, Krsnaa's strength has been its institutional business. We are now building a second engine alongside it, the consumer-facing cash paying business. One gives us scale and reach, the other gives us diversification and a direct relationship with the consumers. Increasingly, innovation will connect both. We are also looking beyond the conventional diagnostics packages and asking a different question: How can diagnostics become a part of the consumer's broader health? I am particularly excited about what comes next.
Very shortly, we will be launching what we believe is the first of the kind proposition in India, bringing together preventive diagnostics and financial protection in a single offering. We believe this can create an entirely new dimension of how consumers engage with Krsnaa and with preventive healthcare. We are also expanding the use of artificial intelligence and technology across consumer engagement, x-ray reporting, and business analytics. When I look at Krsnaa today, I see something very different from the company we were a few years ago. I see an existing healthcare infrastructure that is growing organically, I see new projects adding another layer of growth, and I also see consumer business emerging as a second engine. I see technology and innovation creating new possibilities on top of this network.
As regards our margins, as mentioned in the previous quarters, due to the project implementations, they also carry their full fixed cost base from the very first day, the laboratory equipments, the manpower, and the logistics, while still operating below mature utilization levels, and therefore, you see compression in the margins. However, if we set these projects aside, our like-to-like business delivered stable and consistent margins broadly in line with the previous quarters. The moderation you see is largely a function of the infrastructure that we recently built and now are in the process of fulfilling it, rather than any pricing or structural pressure in the core business. A related point on capital. Ours is an infrastructure-led model, and by nature, the capital expenditure is front-ended. We build the laboratory or the diagnostics network, install the equipment, and put the team in place before the volumes arrive.
That front-ending creates a drag on the margins in the initial quarters, which is essentially what you are seeing in the quarters numbers. As these projects ramp up and utilization improves, that drag evens out, and the incremental revenues begin to flow into an asset base that is already in place. That is the rhythm of our business rather than a departure from it. It is worth reading our margins across a few quarters rather than any single one. Our Group CEO and CFO will take you through the business and financial performance in detail. But I wanted to leave all of you with one thought. Every diagnostic test ultimately has an economic consequences beyond Krsnaa. When somebody's diagnostics at the right time gets treated and returns to his family, his work and that productivity returns to the economy.
So this is the impact that Krsnaa carries on a larger aspect. This is where I believe our purpose and our business models come together. The more people our infrastructure reaches, the more patients we serve, the more our existing infrastructure is utilized, the stronger the economics can become. As retail technology and new services grow, that infrastructure and the opportunity becomes larger. For us, building a healthier India and building a stronger Krsnaa are not two different objectives. Our responsibility now is to translate this platform into a sustainable growth and long-term value for our shareholders. With this, I will now hand over to Mitesh. Over to you, Mitesh.
Thank you, Mr. Yash. A very warm afternoon to all of you. Quarter one FY 2027 has been a quarter of execution, transformation, and importantly, transition from infrastructure creation to revenue generation operations. Over the last several quarters, we have invested significantly in building foundations for our next phase of growth. This quarter, we are beginning to see those investments translate into the live capacity, stronger market presence, and a broader platform for sustainable growth. Let me brief and appraise here everyone on the key operational developments in Rajasthan projects to begin with. As Mr. Yash highlighted, Rajasthan has now moved decisively from implementation phase into the go live and operational phase. Our mother laboratory, hub laboratory, and collection center network is now substantially operationalized across the state.
As of end of quarter one FY 2027, Rajasthan had 31 mother labs, 62 hub labs, and 1,228 collection centers are being operational, and this significant milestone considering the sustainable future growth. More importantly, this network gives us the scale and infrastructure to progressively drive volumes, improve utilization, and unlock the operating leverage embedded in the model. What lies core to everything is non-negotiable quality standards. Along with such large scale-ups, we remain extremely focused on maintaining high-quality standards across and ever. In radiology, we continue to make strong presence and progress against the pipeline order of 70 MRI centers. Eight MRI centers in Maharashtra have been inaugurated and made operationalized during the quarter. Work on balance centers is in progress, and these are expected to go live by end of quarter three.
With each new center, we are strengthening not just our geographical footprints, but also our ability to offer comprehensive diagnostic services under one integrated platform. Further to add, in Q1, we added 12 new NABH accreditations, taking our overall accreditation counts, including NABL, CAP, and ACR to 124. It further double takes our commitment to society and scale cannot come at the cost of quality. We are building a network where quality, standardization, clinical excellence, technology, and accessibility grow together. Talking of our retail business, that also continued its strong growth trajectory. Our network touchpoints have now expanded to more than 4,000 across seven states. We continue to build this business through the differentiated combination of asset-light franchising models, Krsnaa Business Associates, KBAs, Krsnaa Referral Centers, KRCs, strategic alliances, and our existing PPP infrastructure.
One of our key competitive advantage is that we are not building retail in isolation. We are leveraging an ecosystem that already includes labs, pathologists, radiologists, technology, logistics, and technicians. This allows us to serve customer efficiently while keeping our customer acquisition costs structurally lower than those of pure play retail competitors. As this network compounds, we believe the benefit of scale will increase exponentially and visible. This is our initial market research and evaluating findings to cast out the model that serve not just the existing ecosystem, but even large vacuum that exists across India. Our proposition remains differentiated as we bring together quality, accessibility, assurance, and affordability through our 360 degree diagnostic platform supported by 24 by 7, 365 days service window.
This is particularly relevant in India where access to high quality and affordable diagnostic remains a significant unmet need and having high demand. Our ambition is not merely to participate in this market, but is to help and redefine how diagnostic services are delivered across India at a scale with consistency and with trust. We are also deepening our specialty and wellness offering. Our uniquely designed packages combining pathology and radiology across both wellness and illness are generating encouraging results. I am particularly pleased to share that our specialized test portfolio has also evolved as customized and specialty-driven healthcare packages covering areas such as oncology, cardiac care, obesity, metabolic health, gastro-related wellness testing, as well as routine and basic healthcare.
We are also preparing to launch a new set of innovative packages in the coming months, and we believe these offerings have the potential to resonate strongly across both ends of our customer base, from our PPP beneficiaries, including senior citizens and Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries, to our growing retail and Gen Z audience. This is an important part of our strategy to make diagnostics more relevant, more accessible, and more closely aligned with the evolving healthcare needs of India. Our strategic partnerships have also begun to deliver meaningful results. With that, I am happy to share that Apulki Hospital, Pune has commenced operations. Under this partnership, Krsnaa Diagnostics has exclusive diagnostic rights for both radiology and pathology, including super specialty segments such as oncology, cardiology, alongside from basic routine diagnostic services to genetics.
More importantly, this relationship provides us the platform to strengthen our presence across Apulki Hospital over the next 30-plus years. This is exactly the type of partnership we value. Long duration, high visibility revenue opportunities that complement our core PPP business and create sustainable value over long term. The infrastructure has been built, the network is scaling, and now we are entering the phase where we are expected to invest investments to increasingly translate into the operating leverages and financial performance. We remain confident in our underlying sense of our business model and opportunities ahead. Our focus for coming quarters will be on execution, utilization, profitability, and sustainable growth. We believe and now well established that the platform we have created gives us a strong foundation to participate meaningfully in India's rapidly evolving diagnostics and healthcare opportunities.
We are building for scale, but we are equally focused on building for quality, profitability, and longevity. With that, I will hand it over to our interim CFO, Mr. Chandra Prakash, to take you all through the financial highlights of the quarter.
Thank you, Mitesh.
Thank you, Mr. Mitesh. It is my privilege to walk you through our financial performance for the quarter. If I talk about revenue from operations for Q1 FY 2027, it stood at INR 2,355 million against Q1 FY 2026 revenue of INR 1,930 million, representing a year-on-year growth of 22%. EBITDA for the quarter stood at INR 588 million, with an EBITDA margin of 25% against 27% in Q1 FY2026. As guided in our previous call, this quarter did carry an element of upfront cost, largely around 4,000 manpower onboarded in Rajasthan, logistic across collection center ahead of full revenue realization from the project. This cost has largely been absorbed within the quarter, and we expect the impact to normalize further as Rajasthan revenue sales scales through the rest of the year. PAT for the quarter stood at INR 166 million, translating to a margin of 7%.
When I talk about retail business, I am pleased to inform that in continuation with our focus on retail, our retail revenue for the Q1 FY2027 stood at INR 193 million against revenue of INR 118 million in quarter one FY 2026, growing at impressive year-on-year growth rate of 64%, and contributed approximately 9% of overall group revenue. With the roadmap ahead and leveraging the various levers as highlighted by Mr. Mitesh, we are confident of becoming EBITDA positive by Q2. With this, I would like to conclude the CFO opening remarks. We are deeply grateful for your continued confidence in Krsnaa journey. I would like to now invite the moderator to open the floor for questions. Thank you.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Raman from Sequent Investments. Please go ahead.
Hello, sir. Can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you.
I just have two questions. First of all, one of the question is pertaining to the increasing fee to hospitals during the quarter. There is a INR 41 crore expense under fee to hospital during the quarter, which has significantly shot up on sequential quarter as well as year-on-year basis.
Correct.
Yes. Please, can you just provide an explanation why does that.
Yes. So actually, whilst the accounting nomenclature is fees to hospital, this actually increases on account of Rajasthan project.
For a project large like Rajasthan or even other PPP projects, we have certain partners that we work in these remote locations, and there is a certain revenue share or the amount that goes to these partners. So what you see as an expense is because of the manpower, the certain of the operations that they handle, and that expense goes in that line. So the increase is predominantly because of Rajasthan and projects like Manipur where we have these partners providing us different kind of services.
And can you quantify how much of the revenue has been booked with respect to Rajasthan PPP during this quarter? And going forward for the entire year, how much do we expect will be coming from Rajasthan PPP?
Rajasthan revenue, I think we have reported around INR 26 crores.
Okay.
From an annualized basis, I think even if you just multiply this by four, what number we are expecting is about INR 100-INR 150 crores of Rajasthan for the full year.
You are expecting this INR 26 crores to come for every quarter going forward.
It will grow. Since this is the first quarter of implementation, as the labs and other centers go live, the revenue will, of course, double up in the coming quarters, and this is how we expect the business to grow up.
Understood. Sir, I think in the earlier call you mentioned that you plan to do around INR 200-INR 250 crores from Rajasthan PPP in FY 2027. I just want to understand, is this guidance intact, or because you have mentioned that we will be doing only INR 150 crores.
Yes. No, as I said, from a guidance perspective, we will prefer to be on a conservative basis whilst, as an aspiration, of course, we want to achieve the number that we have stated earlier. But if I have to give a guidance, this is something that we have a clear visibility in terms of the revenues that I quoted earlier.
Understood, sir.
Hi, Mitesh this side.
Yes.
Further to add, we are hoping to get our revenues doubling up in the coming quarter. For the Rajasthan I am talking about.
Okay.
On a steady state, when we are looking at it would be somewhere closer to 150, 175. Further business are ramping up.
The overall numbers that we have suggested or previously stated still stand.
Understood, sir. My second question is on the fundraise part. I think promoters have infused funds via warrants. Can you quantify what was the fundraise for?
Could you just repeat the question, please?
So I think the promoter has infused funds via warrant issue. Can you specify why there was a fundraise or why there was a promoter infusion?
Yes, the warrants was proposed as contribution from the promoter for two reasons.
One is, of course, the funds will be utilized for certain capital expenditure for projects and certain acquisitions that we have in mind, and that was the reason why the funds have been raised.
Understood, sir. Thank you. I'll just join back in the queue.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ensure that every participant gets an opportunity, please restrict your questions to two per participant. The next question is from the line of Surya Narayan Patra from PhillipCapital India. Please go ahead. Hello, Surya. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. Sorry. Am I audible?
Hello. Yes, Mr. Surya, you're audible.
Yeah. Thank you for this opportunity, sir. My first question is on the radiology revenue share. Since we have implemented new centers now, for this quarter, what could be the kind of a revenue share that we should be seeing? Can you just let me know? That would be the first question.
Okay. So, hi, Mitesh this side. Yes, as we have added new centers in the radiology as an MRI, and certain more are into the pipeline. However, revenue contribution, considering radiology and pathology, more or less would be in the same line as pathology project for the Rajasthan, which is a huge one, is also getting ramped up.
Parallelly, the MRI, which is getting operationalized, is also going to ramp up.
Okay.
So for now, we don't see much of a variation coming into the radio versus patho. However, in the coming quarter, we're going to have a detailed understanding how the overall operations are shaping up.
Okay. If I just take the earlier quarters understanding, sir, let's say around 48%-50% kind of range for the radiology, then we are seeing a kind of a really strong growth for the radiology business, which is higher than the kind of overall growth that we would have reported. Should we anticipate a kind of a stronger growth for the entire of the year led by radiology, which is generally believed to be a high margin business?
Yes. Mr. Surya, our focus is on driving both radiology and pathology together. In terms of the overall contribution, whilst currently the numbers would be 45, 55. I think the way at which Rajasthan would eventually ramp up, if it takes a faster pace, the balance might tend to go towards pathology. Both the engines, both radiology also we are focusing, and now with MRIs getting operationalized, we also see MRI business is ramping up, and therefore the contribution also will come from the MRI business.
Sure, sir. My second question is about RPL. Congratulations for the kind of strong progress that you are witnessing in the initial quarter itself. That is really appreciable. Simultaneously, I just wanted to check whether the RPL is still in red at the EBITDA level. There is a kind of a drag or there is a kind of a decline only that we have witnessed. As you have in the initial remarks alluded that this could be largely because of the Rajasthan. My question is that, Krsnaa RPL is negative at the EBITDA level, or it is already been broken even and contributing to the bottom line?
RPL, it's currently in the Q1, it's at negative EBITDA level for reasons because we have deployed manpower. If you see on the retail side, considering our operations in the five states, we have to deploy the ground fleet, and that is some of the cost. I think it was mentioned by Mitesh as well, by Q2, we expect Krsnaa RPL to also be EBITDA positive, and from there on it will continue its upward journey.
Oh, that is nice, sir. Then just my.
One more.
Yeah, please, sir.
Yeah. Thanks, Surya, for acknowledging the efforts that we are putting up towards the RPL, number one. Secondly, just to add, while yes, there is a drag, but drag has come down substantially considering the previous few quarters, and it is at a nominal level considering this quarter as in Q1. As Mr. Yash Mutha has just mentioned, by Q2, we are looking to be breakeven positive for the entire Krsnaa RPL.
Sure, sir. Congratulations for that. Then, sir, is it possible to give a sense that, see, while we would be seeing a relatively lower margin profile for this quarter compared to the kind of the trend that you would have set for our business so far. Here, put together led by Rajasthan and led by Krsnaa RPL, what could be the absolute number drag that you would be seeing and which can be covered up in the subsequent period? Can you share that number, sir?
Surya, if you are asking from an overall for the Krsnaa Diagnostics company as a whole.
Yeah. For drag.
The margins we expect to improve from quarter-on-quarter. Like Mitesh also alluded earlier, with Rajasthan revenue doubling up in this Q2 as we expect, as well as RPL getting positive. So overall, the drag will be lesser in the coming quarters, and we see an uptick in the margins going forward as well.
Sure, sir. One point on the CGHS, sir. I think.
Sorry to interrupt, Surya. Please join the queue for the follow-up question. The next question is from the line of Lokesh from Vallum Capital. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi, good afternoon, Yash and team. Yash, my question was on just a clarification. Radio and pathology is 45/55 this quarter?
It is 41/59, sorry.
41/59. So Yash.
Right.
We've seen then, if you see then, radio has been flat revenue-wise. Even after the expansion two years back from 148 centers to 180 centers, that expansion has not contributed much to the top line of radiology, if I go by the revenue mix. What is the problem that you are facing?
Yeah. What you're saying is there is a slight difference in your understanding. The reason is the Rajasthan contribution in this quarter has been significantly higher compared to radiology because the MRI projects have been operationalized over, let's say, the last three months in a staggered manner. We have not seen the full utilization or full revenue contribution from the MRI projects. As these projects get up and coming, you will see a contribution. There was also the overall, if you see some of the radiology projects that we lost in the last quarter, they completed their tenure. That also impact is there. But directionally, radiology is also improving quarter-on-quarter, and pathology, just pathology being a larger project, its contribution in the revenue has been higher and that will continue in the coming quarters.
But as I said, we are aspiration to have both radiology growth, in terms of the contribution increasing in the coming quarters as these projects get mature and they get operationalized.
Is there a change in the mix of your centers where you've added and you've lost some and you've added new, so the matured ones were contributing and now the new ones have come in, so then you're kind of flat. Would that be understanding me correct?
No. From a center count perspective, it is not a material. It is not a material project that we have gone. The projects are still there. We still have the same number of, if you see even in the network of radiology centers that we have, they continue. We have added more centers, and that revenue ramp-up is still underway. The earlier or the existing centers that they are there, they are also growing on a like-like, like I mentioned, they have grown almost 12%, and that we expect to continue to grow in the coming quarters.
Okay. Maybe I will take this off.
Sure.
Sorry to interrupt, Lokesh. Please rejoin the queue for the follow-up question. The next question is from the line of [Aditya Chehda] from InCred Asset Management. Please go ahead.
Hi. Yes. Hello. Hi, this is Pooja Sanghvi. Basically, I wanted to understand the drivers of volume growth versus value growth for this quarter.
Yes, Pooja.
Yeah. Hi, Pooja. Mitesh this side. Volume growth is mainly on account of the expansion that has been carried out, considering in pathology, mainly the Rajasthan, in radiology, the new MRI centers which has been added. Parallelly, in the like-to-like also, it has witnessed a strong growth. That is based on the multiple activations, activities, and efficiency that we have brought in.
Value growth is mainly on account of the new footfalls which has added and the repeat cycles followed by the, or backed by an overall retail, which has added the overall value growth too.
Got that, sir. Sir, I have one more question. Can you clarify why the fees to the hospital has jumped to the INR 40 crore run rate now?
Mm-hmm. As I explained earlier, the fees to hospital is nothing but an expense, which as Krsnaa Diagnostics, we also partner with certain local people who have expertise in certain operations, especially considering a large statewide deployment. There's a certain operation that they undertake, and therefore there's an expense or revenue sharing that happens to these partners, and that expense is sitting in the fees to hospital. While the nomenclature might not be appropriate, it's essentially for the Rajasthan project. When the project got launched off, some of the activities are undertaken by these partners, and therefore there's a certain revenue share that goes to these partners who work alongside with us in the statewide deployment.
Sir, lastly, on the status on receivables of Himachal and Karnataka.
Yes. On Karnataka, we have received, the money has started flowing in. There's also approval that we've cited where the state government has approved certain funds, and the money has started flowing in. Karnataka, it's still not to the expectation that we have. But again, we've received assurances from both the ministries on both these governments, and we are following up in terms of getting the monies.
Pooja, please join the queue for the follow-up question. The next question is from the line of Deepak Ajmera from IGE India. Please go ahead. Hello, Deepak. Please go ahead. As there is no response from the line of Deepak, we will move to the next, that is Vivek Kumar from Bestpal Advisory LLP. Please go ahead.
Sir, am I audible?
Yes.
My question is around retail. Because you are doing mostly in your tier two. I am assuming this. If my assumption is wrong, please correct me. If you are doing it in tier two, tier three locations, how are you trying to get the customers and their trust? Because mostly their customers believe they do not go anywhere unless the doctor is prescribed and recommended by the doctor. So how are we building that trust or we are partnering with the doctors? How is the business model for retail more so in the I am assuming. And please, what percentage comes from tier two, tier three, and tier four for our retail business, if you can go in little bit detail?
Yes.
How are we winning customers.
Yes. It's a good question. In terms of retail, how we are able to attract these customers. If you see when the places that Krsnaa is present today, like you mentioned, it's in tier two, tier three locations, where there's currently not a very strong competitive strength available, number one. Second is, when we educate our, whether it is the franchisees or our touchpoints, that Krsnaa is backed by serving three crore patients, having these highest number of NABL, NABH accreditations in the country today, and with strong quality practices in our operations. That is where then the doctors see the value. Of course, then the pricing also becomes an important element, as a result of which you have seen the kind of growth that we've been achieving quarter on quarter.
As we mentioned earlier, from a DNA perspective, our so-called customer acquisition costs are not significant. We try to rather leverage on the infrastructure, the quality, the accessibility that we build.
We partner with doctors, right? That's the understanding.
No, no. We do not partner. We educate the doctors that, look, this is a company which has operations in 18 states. These are our quality benchmarks. These are the kind of prices that we offer, and of course, then the plethora of the test menu that we have.
Yeah.
But they do not ask for any commission.
Yeah, sorry, sir. Go ahead.
No, sorry sir. Not really. If you see that in PPP, we have got trust of more than 30,000+ doctors already existing in our system. Our reports which has been released or authorized for the patient who is coming to a government hospital under any of the NHM scheme, the doctor is seeing that and then prescribing the further course of treatment. That particular report itself speaks out loud around the trust that we carry all across, be it is a doctor practicing in government hospitals or outside the hospitals. Number one. Number two, rests on what Mr. Yash has mentioned. Be it is accessibility, affordability backed by the quality. Because if you see our overall quality standards pan-India are the highest in the nearest peer. All these factors plays a lot.
Thirdly, to answer or to support that statement, today with the increasing awareness all across and even government healthcare schemes, making people well aware even in the tier two, tier three towns. They are also equally educated for getting into the illness prescribed by the doctor or wellness of their own.
Sir, I got it, sir, but just clarification. Normally, tier two, tier three doctors have their own partnership with diagnostics, so that is why there is a conflict of. They get some money from there, right? How are you able to bypass that?
We would not like to comment on. No, as a practice, if you see at the prices at which we offer and the value, I do not think so, there is a need for any of these kind of associations or practices. We rather focus on the quality of our test. That is how it is.
Second question is on the receivables for our.
Vivek, I request you to rejoin the queue for the follow-up question.
Okay.
The next question is from the line of Deepak Ajmera from IGE India. Please go ahead.
Hello, am I audible?
Yes.
Yes. On the Himachal Pradesh part, we have added 22 new locations over there. What are our future plans and revenue guidance over there, and how are we going to execute in these new locations?
Right. Currently, as I said, it's a new project giving us the revenue visibility for over a period of 10 years. We started with Himachal Pradesh, this additional 22 locations, so totally 34 locations is what we will be serving. Predominantly, we are discussing this to be an entirely cash-free business. With regards to the revenue and investment, we will be giving those details more in the coming quarter. There are still some discussions going on, so I will be able to have more clarity in the coming days and then we will update you. Maybe we can also discuss this offline, as and when the information comes to us.
Beyond Rajasthan, how we are going to grow in terms of revenue, if you can just highlight that?
Yes. If you see from a growth perspective, the like-to-like business, our existing businesses which were established in the previous years, the infrastructure that we have already in place, that will continue to grow. Rajasthan is another engine that we have added in terms of the PPP projects that will further add to the existing base. On top of it, the Himachal Pradesh additional centers as well as there are some more PPP projects in pipeline, which we envisage, which should materialize in the coming quarters will also give us an additional engine of growth. There is a third engine, which is the retail business that we have started expanding, and that is also showing encouraging results. We are also launching some innovative products. Like I mentioned earlier, we will be announcing some new products in the market very soon, which is a blend of diagnostics and some financial protection.
So there are these multiple levers, which in our opinion, should give us a directional growth and continue with the journey upwards.
Okay. On the margin front, you said that the operational efficiency is going to kick in Rajasthan. Could you please highlight the margins we are going to enjoy this year?
Yeah. So from a margins perspective, as I said, once the Rajasthan operation normalizes in terms of the maturity of the operation, we expect the margins to come back to double digits at the end of the year as a whole.
On the retail front, we have achieved INR 19 crore-INR 20 crore kind of a quarterly run rate. How do you see this going forward?
Hi, good afternoon. Mitesh this side. Well, it's an emerging business, and I should still say that it's just scratching up the surfaces. By the ending of this financial year, we are hoping to go exponentially high with the current run rate. It's quite encouraging the overall results or the feedback that we are getting it from the market, be it is the patients or the doctors, and on the differentiators that we have plugged it in our system while we were going to launch the RPL a year before.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Rajat from Tata Mutual . Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thanks for taking my question. Am I audible?
Yes, you are audible, Rajat.
Yeah. Hi. Yash, just one observation I have is that if I see your employee expenses for the quarter, despite the starting of Rajasthan tender, the employee cost seems to be flat, both on a year-over-year basis as well as on a quarter-on-quarter basis. I do not know if you have answered this before, but I joined the call a little late.
No, no. Rajat, in terms of the employee cost, what has happened is most of the employees, what even our CFO mentioned earlier, they came in mostly towards the end of Q1. Some of the employees are also on as part of our partners or the business associates with whom we work, which gets captured under the fees to hospital. Importantly, as management also, we have done some rationalization of the manpower cost, considering, as I said, multiple ways to ensure that we continue the driving up our margins upwards. This is how you see. Whilst on a percentage basis, because it is a percentage of revenue, it sees as a lower percentage, but in terms of absolute, there has been an increase. But still we have been able to control the expense, not to have a very major impact on the financial statements.
Going forward, Yash, let us say next two to three quarters, do you think employee expenses will be in the similar range? Or as the project ramps up, we will need to hire more people, or the hiring is already done, is what I am trying to understand.
No, there will be some hiring because as I said, some of the labs are still yet to be operationalized, but they will be in tandem with the revenue growth as well. If the revenue doubles up, I don't think so the impact of the manpower will be significant in the coming quarters.
Sure. Okay. Thanks.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Pooja from InCred Asset Management . Please go ahead.
Hi. I was just asking that, can you give any guidance on the recovery in the Himachal and Karnataka? Would it be by the end of Q3 or Q4 or No. Pooja, on the recovery side, as I said, with Himachal Pradesh, we've already seen one communication where certain funds have been allocated and that money's already started flowing in.
Karnataka, the conversations are going on. We have received various representations, and along with the recent change in the ministry as well, there has been some delay from procedural perspective, but we expect money to be collected by Q2. Apart from, if you see HP, Karnataka and a bit of Maharashtra, all other projects are on track in terms of receiving, except for these three states where the teams are working furiously to recover the money that is due from the governments.
Okay, got it, sir. For retail, as a sales is still 8%, do we expect the mix to improve going forward?
Could you repeat the question, please?
The retail as a percentage of sales is 8%, but going forward, do we expect it to improve, like the mix to improve going forward?
Yeah. Hi, Pooja. Mitesh this side. Absolutely, and that is where we are working towards, because what all network which has already been laid out into the market space, as well as the network which is ongoing and the network which we will be going to further laying out into the market. Our contribution, what we are looking to target this financial year is to be in the range of 10%-15%. Going forward, it is further continue to add up to the overall contribution.
Okay, got that. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Surya Narayan Patra from PhillipCapital India Private Limited. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the sir. So on the CGHS front, this quarter we have seen industry peers getting benefited out of it, and possibly for us it should be a kind of sizable one. Any benefit of that we have seen, sir?
No. Surya, the CGHS rates, that has been more on the hospital side. Since our rates are contractually as per the tender rates, we don't see it immediately in the current tenders. But the forthcoming tenders, since they'll be benchmarked to the new rates, that is how there might be a possibility of getting the upside, but not for the current business.
Sure. Just one clarification, sir, about the volume growth. See, in fact, while we have seen RPL seeing a kind of robust volume growth, but if we adjust that RPL's volume growth from the reported overall growth, then it looks it is a flat performance for us. So what is impacting, whether it is the kind of the effort that you have been following in the last couple of quarter to monetize your receivables, whether those efforts continuing and hence impacting the volume, or how should one think this number performance on, in terms of the volumes?
Yeah. Hi, Mitesh this side. So if you'll see, RPL is a business which has been diversified and has been operationalized to complement the existing PPP. If you'll see the overall volume growth, it is both ways. Be it is RPL showing a higher because of the lower base currently we are having. PPP as an overall business, wherein the base is huge and large, and where it is growing at a pace where it is with the adding of the Rajasthan and the MRI are driving the major ones. However, with the existing other businesses, if you'll see the volumes are in line with what it should be. Adding up to our predefined rates with the government, proportionately the values are growing.
Okay. Here we should not map the industry volume growth to Krsnaa's PPP contract volume growth, sir?
No. Surya, if you see from a volume growth perspective, as I said, in PPP, the ramp up sometimes happens exponentially, right?
Yeah.
Because these are underserved areas, so the volume growth would not necessarily be in the same the way industry moves. Our business model is differentiated. Our presence is in different locations compared to what the peers would have been. I wouldn't say it's an apple-to-apple comparison. Yes.
Okay.
But from a direction perspective, both retail and on the PPP side, volumes have grown and they continue to grow. That also is reflected in both from a revenue perspective.
Like what Mitesh also mentioned earlier, in terms of the retail, we are seeing a huge uptick in the acceptance and people have started accepting retail wellness packages, illness packages. Similarly, on the PPP side with Rajasthan and others, the radiology projects, the volumes continue to grow.
Sure, sir. Yeah. Thank you, sir. Wish you all the best.
Thank you, Surya.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, due to time constraints, that was the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Thank you. Look, I hope we've been able to address all your questions today. If there are any queries that remain unanswered or if you require any further information, please feel free to reach out to our investor relationship teams and we'll be happy to assist. Thank you once again for joining us today and for your continued interest and support in Krsnaa Diagnostics. We look forward to speaking with you again in the next quarter. Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of Equirus Securities Private Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.