Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to doctor Lalpak Lab's q one FY twenty six earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participants' lines will be in listen only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand over the conference to mister from CDR India. Thank you and over to you sir.
Thank you. Good afternoon everyone and welcome to doctor Lal Path Lab's q one FY twenty six earnings conference call. Today we are joined by senior members of the management team including ordinary brigadier, doctor Arvind Lal, executive chairman, mister Sankar Banerjee, CEO, and mister Waif Prakash Gurl, group CFO and CEO, international business. I would like to share a standard disclaimer. Some of the statements made on today's conference call could be forward looking in nature, and the actual results could vary from these forward looking statements.
A detailed statement in this regard is available in the results presentation, which has been circulated to you and also available on exchange websites. I would now like to invite doctor Lal to share his perspective. Thank you and over to you sir.
Thank you very much. Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to our first quarter earnings call. I would first like to highlight the broader opportunity in healthcare and the role that we can play as a leading diagnostic brand. Healthcare in India continues to grow at a healthy pace characterized by digitized digital transformation and shift towards tech driven and holistic healthcare delivery. However, I would like to add that there is more than ample room for growth.
When it comes to hospitals alone, it is said that India has a shortfall of 2,400,000 beds to reach global standards. This is getting addressed with major hospital seats adding to capacity judiciously by upwards of 30% till FY '27. Central government flagship initiatives like Ayushman Bharat and Heal in India are propping up public and private investment in the healthcare system. One can be assured that this kind of growth will translate into a higher requirement for quality diagnostic services going forward. On the tech side, we are witnessing increased integration of AI in healthcare services, including diagnostics.
It is estimated that by the 2025, the Indian artificial intelligence healthcare market would have a size of 1,600,000,000.0 U. S. Dollars. The impact of telemedicine and digital health record is being felt given enhanced access in rural and semi urban regions. The role of digital in tech within our industry is growing, where on the one hand, it appears to be operational efficiency and on the other, it enhances patient and clinical outcomes.
Let us look at the other side. The prevalence of chronic and lifestyle diseases in India continues to expand. We are the topmost country with incidence of diabetes with a hundred million patients afflicted, rates of hypertension are also climbing with some survey indicating that maybe thirty percent of adults having elevated blood pressure. Obesity is experiencing a surge in young adults and children, given linkages to higher consumption of processed foods and general inactivity. And these trends are coming up in the rural settings as well as life science undergo change over there.
The only drawback for rural population has been access to regular screening and specialist care. Delayed diagnosis is also an important exacerbating factor here, especially in underserved populations. Given this background, the role of diagnostics in management of these health care outcomes cannot be overstated. As a national brand, we remain committed to providing quality diagnostic services to the country. Our operations are steadily spreading across hinterland markets, where demand for such services is rising.
This is especially so in tier two and beyond. We are building stronger presence in West and South to complement presence in the North and East. FY twenty five saw addition of 18 new labs to our network and we expect to sustain a similar number in the present year too. Our patient service centers also saw strong increase to match this and again we expect this franchising trend to continue. On the tech side, we are making the right investments to strengthen operations and create scale with flexibility.
Our journey will be marked by growth milestones as we seek to broaden the scope of services and geographic coverage. The model is scalable and we have the intent to grow it to meet unserved LCF requirements. With that, I would like to hand over to Shankar to continue. Over to you Shankar.
Thank you, doctor Lal, and a very warm welcome to everyone.
Let me share some insights into Doctor. Lal PatchLab's performance in the 2026. As evident, our results are a testament to the enduring strength of our business model and the disciplined execution of our dedicated teams across the nation. The new financial year began on a strong footing with 11.3% growth in revenues and 24.3% improvement in profit after tax. This was achieved by steady volume momentum and a favorable test mix. Our sample volumes grew by 10.7% to 23,400,000, while patient volumes increased by five point three percent to seven point six million. At an industry level, the competitive landscape continues to evolve.
We have recently observed the entry of a new e commerce player into the diagnostics arena. This will add to the existing online competitors that have been in the industry for nearly a decade. The foray from hospitals and pharma companies into the diagnostic sector continues to help in speeding up the unorganized to organized shift for the industry. Strategically, we are expanding our capabilities in high complexity testing. We have launched 58 new tests in the quarter, strengthening the genomics portfolio and introduced component resolved diagnostics for allergy testing.
We are also supporting antimicrobial stewardship with the launch of an in house smart culture reporting algorithm for the right antibiotic recommendation for all types of culture reporting. We see a very strong future potential in high end and specialized testing. We are also seeing positive trends in bundled testing under Swastrite, which continues its strong growth trajectory. The bundled testing offer is being strengthened on the Inner segment as well. Further, we have added new offerings in genomics, reproductive health and autoimmune disorders to bring sharper focus to these areas.
On the operational front, our network continues to expand in line with our cluster based strategy. We are strengthening our leadership in core urban markets in North And East, including Delhi and CR. We are also deepening our presence further in Tier three and four towns. We are maintaining our calibrated pricing strategy and continue to hold our prices. The gains in realization are driven by premiumization of our offering and driving a favorable test and geography mix.
On the digital front, we are investing more in automation and digital systems to improve patient experience, enhance cyber security and drive operational efficiency. Our outlook is defined by three strategic pillars, driving volume related growth through aggressive market expansion, achieving operational excellence via comprehensive digital transformation and steadfastly upholding our brand leadership through unwavering quality and widespread accessibility. With that, I will now hand over the call to Ved.
Thank you, Shankh. Good afternoon, everyone, and a very warm welcome once again. Let me now walk you through the financial performance for the '6. Revenue for Q1 FY 'twenty six stood at rupees $6.70 crore compared to rupees $6.00 2 crore in the same quarter last year, reflecting a strong growth of 11.3%. Revenue per patient rose to rupees $8.80, up 5.7% from rupees $8.33 in Q1 last year, driven by a favorable change in the test mix.
Test per patient increased to 3.07 compared to 2.92 in the same period last year, highlighting continued traction in bundled and preventive test adoption. Our Trusted portfolio contributed 27% of revenue this quarter, up from 25% in the same period last year, underscoring its growing relevance in preventive healthcare. EBITDA for the quarter came in at rupees 192 crore versus rupees 170 crore in Q1 FY 'twenty five, a growth of 13.1% with a stable and healthy EBITDA margins of 28.7%. Profit before tax rose to INR 181 crore from INR 150 crore, up 20.8% with a PBT margin of 27%. Profit after tax stood at rupees 134 crore compared to rupees 108 crore in Q1 FY five, delivering a robust 24.3 growth and maintaining a net margin of 20%.
Earnings per share for Q1 FY 'twenty six came in at rupees 15.9, up 24.4% from rupees 12.8 in the corresponding quarter last year. Our balance sheet continues to be strong and resilient with net cash and equivalents of rupees $13.89 crore as of 06/30/2025. In recognition of this performance and to reward our shareholders, I'm happy to share that the Board of Directors has approved an interim dividend of 60% that is rupees 6 per share. These results reaffirm the strength of our business model, the effectiveness of our execution and our disciplined financial stewardship. We are making strong progress across all strategic fronts, expanding in both core and emerging markets, scaling up our high end and specialized SaaS portfolio and accelerating our digital transformation journey.
We remain confident in our ability to deliver sustainable profitable growth while staying true to our purpose of delivering trusted diagnostics with care and precision. With this, I conclude my opening remarks and I would now request the moderator to open the forum for question and answer. 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 your touch tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to use handset 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 Kartik Chilipa from Indus Capital Advisors Limited. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you very much for the opportunity, sir, and congrats on the quarter. So I have three questions. The first one is on the volume growth for the quarter, which is very healthy. The commentary that we heard from a lot of consumer companies is there were a lot of unseasonal rains and erratic weather this quarter.
So did our volume growth benefit from any of these unseasonal trends? Or is this like a very clean kind of unseasonal volume growth that we saw this quarter? That's my first question, sir.
Yeah. Hi, Kartik. Thanks for your question. So as of now, in the first quarter numbers that are there, there isn't too much of favorable impact because of the unseasonal rains. So it is more or less quite like for like compared to quarter one last year.
Excellent. The second question is, if I were to look at our realizations this quarter, they have they haven't grown much, probably even less than one percentage or so. But despite that, we have seen a very strong gross margin expansion, both year on year and q on q. So is there anything specific on the cost front that we have done this quarter? And is this is this kind of improvement something that we can sustain, or are we hitting a normalized level of gross margin where we like to sustain it at an 81% level?
Hi, Kartik. This is Riz. So I I think realization has gone up from eight thirty three to eight eighty, which is not 1%. I mean that is one. But there is no price increase as such in we have taken in this.
This is all due to price test mix or maybe high end test contribution, which has contributed this realization. Margin specifically is increased and we got the benefit because of this Swat Fit, which has contributed 27% this time, which is highest ever contribution in this quarter. So that is the reason we we are getting some benefit out of this.
Excellent. Okay.
Because the 1% I was referring to was the realization per test, but it's okay. I think I got the message also. My last question, sir, is last quarter, we indicated in our outlook for FY twenty six that we may see up to, let's say, a 100 basis points margin compression because we are reinvesting into our brand as well as lab infrastructure, etcetera. This quarter, margins have actually been quite strong. So should we see the impact of this margin compression on a lag basis, let's say, in the remaining quarters?
Or was this quarter just it just surprised us more than what we had anticipated?
So again, with you are right. You know, generally, if you see first half, we generally have higher margins because most of the investments we are getting into second half. And that is where I I don't think these 28.7% margins are representative of the full year. Yes, we have improved, but let's see how the remaining quarters goes, but most of the investment will be in later quarter of the year.
But Kartik, just to add to that, I think there is, you know, internal view, although we are recalibrating that, you know, the the overall annual margin also could be slightly better than what we projected in the beginning of the year.
Okay. That's good to hear. Okay. That's it from my side, sir. Wish you and the team all the very best for the remaining quarter. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Before we take the next question, we would like to remind participants, you may press star and one to ask a question. The next question is from the line of Anshul Agarwal from MK. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. Hope I'm all open.
Yes.
Great.
So my first question is on volume growth. Could you provide some color? Is is this growth secular geographically? Is it is it some particular region which has led to the strong volume growth, patient volume growth or sample growth?
So if you look at the overall number, revenue at 11.3 and let's say sample growth at 10.7, which is really very closely hugging the overall revenue, I think we are seeing similar trend of the sample growth being very close to our overall revenue growth across all our major geographies.
Okay. So core Delhi region is still growing at double digits and same for West?
So, yes, Delhi has grown at double digits for this quarter as well. West, like we said, you know, that post our, you know, changeover in suburban of the whole IT stack, there has been a bit of a discontinuous impact in the market, which we had mentioned would take maybe two quarters to recover. So we are still in that recovery phase. It is better than previous quarter, but I wouldn't say we have still reached the level that we were two quarters back.
Correct. So we still have that lever if at all that comes in after two quarters, we still have that lever to improve our growth volume trajectory.
Yeah. That's what I would see that, you know, we still have some headroom there to go back to our previous numbers there.
Correct. Second question, sir, is is on the is on the current quarter, which is so so basically, unseasonal monsoon is a question on that. Q two, we will we should see the beneficial impact of that. Would, again, that be correct?
So you see, Q two has traditionally been the high quarter, specifically driven by, you know, fever and seasonality. So so, like, if we are saying this year, the similar thing was there last year. So so it I don't think there is an expectation of, you know, this year hike being differential from others because there is still quite a lot of the quarters still to still remaining to play out. Right? So it has been a seasonal high always, and we expect a seasonal high this year as well.
Great. That's it from my end. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kapadia from Kapadia Financial Services. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Couple of questions from my end. You know, in the last, I think, three odd years, we've launched the Bangalore reference lab as well as the Mumbai reference lab. Now historically, we've seen, you know, the sales growth is much higher in these markets when, you know, the reference lab is launched, be it East, be it North.
So towards the later half of the year, would we expect West and, you know, specifically South Bangalore side to, you know, have revenue growth faster than, you know, the company average growth? Because that's what I think the trend towards and, you know, all the efforts which we typically put once the reference lab is there, they generally rectify. And in addition to that, from a revenue side, you know, I think last call, you had alluded, Shanko, the patient service centers we've invested. So if I see that last two, three, six to three years, they are up by 40%. Pickup points are up by, I think, 18%.
So when does, you know, the step up in revenue happen for us? Obviously, we are growing better than industry, but, you know, still the step up in revenue, say, 15% revenue growth. When do some of these things fructify as we move forward?
Right. Thanks, Prakash.
Very interesting questions. I think, firstly, on the reference lab question that you asked. So so the reference lab setup is is like basically, we have a test menu, which is significantly larger than, let's say, a hub lab or a cluster lab. I mean, that's how the reference lab setup is. And the test menu, the higher test menu is typically a lot of, you know, not so a frequent tested, but it is something we outsource from quite a lot of clients.
Now if you look at how this whole thing works is that, you know, firstly, clients in that same geography who we were maybe sending the samples to Delhi or somewhere else, now start getting reports better and faster from from the local lab, the local reference lab that we have. And then, you know, the conversion of the other clients for those high end tests will will happen. So it's a slightly long term thing compared to, you know, satellite lab. So this is a slightly longer term horizon thing and and it's a it's a bit of a slow burn. So so to kind of directly link it only to opening a reference lab may not be appropriate because, you know, some of the other capacity of routine tests that get built in a branch from market, the ability to leverage that is more quicker than in markets where, you know, brand spend is still under development.
So I would say that the reference lab impact will be a slightly more longer term one. Coming back to your second question, which is on infrastructure and, you know, the front end, whether it's the collection network or the pickups that we are opening. Now as you have also noted in our previous commentary, quite a bit of the infrastructure gets opened up in, know, tier three, tier four towns. And some of the throughput per infrastructure may not be as high as the throughput per infrastructure in the larger urban town. So the, just the number increase getting converted to a direct same kind of a number increase on revenue side may not always be appropriate, but yes, there is also a a buildup in terms of revenue that happens over a period of time.
But it's a constant process. So although we have stepped up some of these additions, you know, there has there has always been addition happening every year at certain level, and that's the ruling benefit. So it is unlikely to show you a serious step jump going forward, But yeah, it'll all contribute because finally the whole network, the hub and spoke model of the collection network and the lab and the test menu in that lab is what will help us grow the revenues in the future.
And and this, Shankhov, you said would happen over a period of time. So that that would, you know, take more time in, you know, the tier three, four markets where, you know, we we are focusing since the last few years because there I think penetration, habits, awareness would would take time.
So what would be that inflection point, you know, which we have to monitor to see we've we've, you know, got there in terms of, you know, the faster revenue growth, which, you know, seems to be missing as of now. This leads better than what, you know, others or industry players are doing, but how does that step up happen? So is it habit change? Is it awareness? It is per capita?
So, you know, infrastructure is definitely one big contributory factor in terms of step of our revenue growth, but that is not the only factor which will determine. There are other things that need to be executed, like I said, you know, in terms of our test menu expansion, in terms of, you know, speed to market, in terms of, you know, other, you know, the brand salience getting developed. So there are a lot of other factors to play, but yeah, infrastructure is the a large contributory factor. So again, directly linking to say that in terms of numbers, 40% infrastructure means a 40% increase in revenue may not be the right correlation to build.
Sure.
Understood. One question for Veda. The amortization for Suburban would would continue at 60 crore run rate, and this should be over in the next four years. Right? Is that understanding correct?
So total is 50 crore per cash for the year. I mean, 12 and a half crore per quarter, which will continue for some time. Yeah.
Yeah. Understood. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from the line of from Philips Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for this opportunity, sir, and congratulations for the great set of numbers. My first question is on the number of your test for questions. If I see there is a kind of a very secular study, secular rise that we are retesting, And possibly that is helping you deliver growth without taking even any price hike for the industries and following. So although there is a kind of a consistent rise that we are seeing in the number of sample per patient or the test for patient.
So is there any benchmark that one can think, see, the number could be listed? It is or based on your any matured sub segment or submarket, the number of the TESSCO patient could go as high as four, five, or or what number that one can kind of target and achieve? And over what period of time period, if you can give some sense on that?
I think that's a very interesting question. And, you know, at the outset, let me say, we don't have a target that we are following on a 10 per patient basis. So, but one thing that we definitely see is that there are there are lot of factors which are contributing to this test per patient increase and some of those factors definitely in the near term would continue. So first and foremost is this whole prospect, you know, acceptability and growth that we see, you know, with the and I I think mentioned that sometime before as well. We see traction in terms of, you know, more people wanting to use it not only in urban areas, but we are also seeing, you know, some of our smaller towns, the acceptability is rising.
We are also seeing some traction coming from the prescription channel. So so that is one driver for, you know, test per patient. And obviously, there is another driver, which is in terms of, you know, prescribing habits of clinicians, where there could be, you know, more tests being prescribed on a single prescription now than previous. So yes, there are certain factors which are contributing. We are not running after a target on this one, but you're right.
This is definitely contributing to our growth and and obviously helping us to maintain our price stance the way we have taken.
Sure. Second point was, let's say, what is the growth over last year that we have seen in terms of the number of test panels? And whether it is fair to believe that with the rising trend of the test panels that we offer, that will lead to a kind of a faster growth in either the growth or the the overall growth for the past.
So if you look at, I am I assume by panels you are implying the Swat Freight. So Swat Freight portfolio q one this year has grown about 2022% over same quarter last year. Right, and obviously that is ahead of our overall revenue growth and therefore contributes positively to our overall revenue growth as well as to our profitability mix.
But it is not the number of panel that also contribute to the growth of the fixed portfolio?
So I'm not too sure what you mean by number of panels. We've got a we've got some set pre predefined prospect bundles. There are one or two new that we add bundles, but these are all predefined bundles.
Okay. So currently, what three eighty five test panels that we are having, so that number would not be very frequently changing. Is that understanding right, sir?
Yeah. That understanding is right. Yes.
Okay. Okay. Then my last point was, sir, do you believe the the likely a significant boom in the usage of the GLP one medication is likely to have a kind of a big potential boost to the overall test volume numbers for us because of our Pan India presence that we are having.
No. No. I think that's a very interesting question. We we haven't really maybe figured out the connection between GLP one usage and and diagnostic testing or direct connection to that. But but let us, you know, as a team, maybe we will look into this slightly more deeply and and try and see if there is a direct connection that could be there between this and what impact it could possibly be.
Sure sir. Yeah. Thank you. Wish you all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. A reminder to the participants, if you wish to ask a question, you may press star and one. The next question is from the line of from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for taking my question. My first question is with respect to Suburban. So while we have been one of the best run diagnostic companies for a long time now, there like for Suburban, we have not able to work it out, like, probably the way we would have wanted when we had acquired the asset. So any any, you know, color if you could provide on, you know, what what are the things where we have struggled or what what went wrong and what were the learnings from it would help.
And also a subpart to that is this IT restack, which we are doing on Suburban. Any particular reason we are doing it right now versus, say, do it when we acquired or immediately after we acquired it? So that's my first question.
So I think this suburban question has been asked quite a few times in the in the past and, you know, there have been I think on the investor call, we've tried to answer that quite a few times. But if you reflect back and see, you know, what are the challenges, I think we said that there was one big change that we had wanted to make with the the collection network, which was there, you know, when the COVID test went down, lot of our existing collection network within Suburban actually started becoming unviable and closing the franchise part.
And then, you know, we also wanted to change the whole structure from our own collection network to a franchise collection network model. So that changeover, I think, took longer, specifically because of the slowdown of the existing franchise network, which happened post the COVID reduction. So I think that was obviously one core reason. I think the other thing is that starting itself, we said that there are quite a few parts of the business that we felt was non strategic and non core, which we started deemphasizing and that obviously went on a slow decline. And those kind of non core geographies as well as non core business lines kind of you know were also therefore you know on the top line side one would not see the benefit although internally there would be segment that we wanted to grow we're starting to see those results. Coming back to the point on the IT stack changeover. So, you know, we had done quite a lot of work.
You know, we have to prepare the team. There were so the operations part had to be aligned to a certain level before the IT stack changeover could be done. I think the acceptability within the system, the team, as well as, you know, the preparation that would have gone into it. And there was time, we felt that now is the right time for us to really start looking at more back end synergies, and that's why the timing was chosen to do the IT stack changeover to align fully to the Laul PatchLab IT stack, which we did in February.
Got it.
And also, is this the last step or, you know, post which all the all the measures like conversion of franchisee or conversion of own centers to franchisee centers and all the other things are done and we should start seeing recovery? Would that be a fair understanding? Like, maybe after a quarter or two?
So I wouldn't say all is done because there are still certain geographies where, you know, we are actually now even transition the business to Lalpatch Labs system. So there will still be some transition which will continue because, you know, we don't want to do everything in one shot.
It it really doesn't work in an ongoing business. We have to obviously handle handle it carefully.
Got it. And my second question is with respect to, you know, the inorganic opportunities and the cash allocation which we have in the balance sheet. So, like, while we have always mentioned that we want to, you know, explore for assets in the South and in untapped geographies or for for inorganic acquisition, but just to get a sense on, you know, what are the challenges when you, you know, go and approach the labs?
So first of all, are there enough labs for you to, you know, be a target like, potential targets? And then if they are, then what are the valuations sorry. What are the issues you are facing other than the valuation part which might always probably be expensive in India? So any color on that would be helpful.
So, yes, Karan, this is Ved. I think, you know, we already stated that inorganic is a idea, especially in South. Right now, there is nothing which is we can share right now, but they exercise on. And in terms of what should be the value, what is the strategy and all, I think the foremost thing, we want a platform where we can ride and make that platform great. So we don't want to just acquire for the sake of adding turnover.
But wherever we feel there is a strategic fit into our whole long term strategy, I think that is where we require. But yes, there are opportunities. At the right time, maybe it will come.
Got it. Thank you.
Thank you.
You. The next question is from the line of Pranaya Jay from Banyan Tree Advisors. Please go ahead. Hi.
Thank you for taking my question. Am I audible?
Yes.
Yeah. So, actually, I wanted to understand our gross margin our gross margin outlook.
So when we look at gross margins over the last few years, they've been, you know, constantly expanding. As we scale up further, shouldn't gross margins go up even beyond, say, 82, 83% over a three, four year horizon?
So I I think, you know, your observation is right, and the gross margin is increasing. You know, obviously, a couple of things contributing. One is I alluded on my opening remarks because of no contribution of first fit. The test mix is very different. Second is scale, obviously.
And third, geographic mix also. So I don't think I can't comment on where it can go, but our efforts is always to create efficiency where we can still get some benefits, whether it is volume, whether it is test mix and all. But right now, it is hovering around 79%, 80%. You know. And I would say near term, I don't think it will go substantially, you know, from here.
So that is where you should consider that it should be around at the current levels.
Got it. And my second question is, in our noncore geographies, what are some of the strategic initiatives that we have taken to, you know, fasten organic growth?
So non core non core geographies, obviously, there is a, you know, slightly slower turnaround in terms of building the organic business, and it will follow a quite simple mechanism, you know, obviously building the testing infrastructure collection network and then, you know, put put feet on the ground who can then meet up with the subscriber community and and be able to promote our services and how, you know, we can give good quality services compared to maybe a lot of other local labs and maybe some of the smaller regional labs that may be operating in that geography.
Thank you. That's it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Yogesh Insert. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. My first question is on the Delhi and CR Region. We have seen we have seen consistently double digit growth in last couple of quarters. I wanted to understand, I mean, what has changed in the situation, Whether the market competitiveness has changed or whether we have made certain efforts that are resulting in double digit growth?
So so, yeah, I think, firstly, there is a slightly benign market competitiveness in terms of the online players and pricing that is a contributing factor. But over and above that, there are quite a lot of service enhancement initiatives that we have taken in the market, whether it's on logistics, tag, you know, test menu, people on ground. So, you know, a lot of those and even looking at our channel channel partners and, you know, kind of motivating the channel partners performance, etcetera. So so a lot of those initiatives have gone into play, which is resulting in what we are seeing as, you know, the consistent double digit growth in MCR.
Okay. That helps to understand. Another question is on the genomics. I just wanted to discuss about the genomics market, what kind of market now and kind of growth rate that we are seeing in the market. Also, I mean, if you could let us know what is the overall contribution of genomics in our revenue and how we can see genomics becoming an affordable option in the coming time?
So like our overall industry, similarly, I think having a sub sector market sizing is something which is not available at a industry level. So I may not be able to comment on the market size currently. But one thing which is sure is that genomics as a segment is definitely, you know, getting more acceptability amongst the clinicians and and is also seen as a way to kind of, you know, pursue or go ahead of the whole personalized care and personalized medicine, which is evolving, you know, globally and also also in India. Also, I think the whole cancer or the onco area that is, you know, getting more focused in our country also uses genomic testing. So we believe that in the future, the requirement for genomic testing is going to grow from wherever it is today.
And we definitely would like to get a a sizable share of that growth going forward, and and we are therefore investing in that basis. As of now, I don't think I'm in a position to share, you know, sectoral breakup of what percentage of our business is.
Okay. That helps. Just to get a further clarity if you may be able to provide on the affordability part, I mean, how will that be achieved?
So I think affordability of genomic testing is improving day by day. You know, it it is a combination of volume and as well as the type of testing equipment that one is going to use. And, you know, technology improvement that we are seeing from time to time. So affordability and the testing costs are getting competitive. So so I think if that trend continues the way it is, the acceptability, user acceptability will grow even further.
Yes. That's helpful. Thank you for your answer.
Thank you.
Thank you. A gentle reminder, before we take the next question, participants to ask a question, please press star and one. The next question is from the line of Ashita Gyan from Nuvama. Please go ahead.
Good day, everyone.
So my first question is on your best India strategy. I understand you're on the last leg of integration, but with the dual branch that we have now with Suburban and Doctor. La, how should we see your best India region performing going forward? Could you give us more color around your organic expansion, maybe focus cities, or or how are you dividing the local areas and also the white spaces that you're seeing in the West India region? That's my first question.
Right. So so West India for us is, you know, Maharashtra, MPEG, and Gujarat and Goa, right? That's what West India is. And amongst this whole wide geographic array, the dual brand strategy is operational in Mumbai, Pune and Goa primarily. So the rest of the parts of West India is still fully Lalpas Lab organic and a few inorganic acquisitions that we had done in the past.
So so in terms of our strategy, you know, the the core medical hubs are Mumbai and Pune, and and that is the area that we really want to build a strong base in. I mean, the other parts of West India in MPCG, MP and Chattisgarh, there is quite a lot of organic Lalpakla presence and quite a lot of those markets, we are the number one brand and we continue to expand our footprint as well as our business there. Whereas in markets like Maharashtra and Gujarat, we are not you know, the leaders and and could be quite far behind some of the incumbent brands there. So those are the geographies that we are trying to build for the long term and and working on that to see how we can now grow these two brands organically in Mumbai and Pune.
So is it fair to assume that the majority of the expansion would be Fintivy collection centers going forward rather than the lab additions in these markets? Or or how should we see it from your, say, three years or five years down the line?
So in a three to five years scenario, definitely we'll have lab additions as well. So it is not that lab additions are not going to happen. But, you know, since we are first focusing on a very compact geography of Mumbai Pune, I think the lab infrastructure for Mumbai Pune is already established. So so in these markets, it it could translate into more of collection network expansion. But when you look at rest as a whole, which includes other parts of Maharashtra, Gujarat and even, yeah, Maharashtra and Gujarat, there there is also a possibility of adding lab infrastructure, which we continue to do on a steady basis.
Understood. That's helpful. My second question is on the radiology side. I think the last earnings call, you made a remark that radiology is also on the table. So how should we think radiology is a growth lever for you?
And also one of your competitors have also started ECG at home, and they're doing couple of other basic radiology as well as advanced. So how should we see it for doctor Lal going forward?
So radiology has a, you know, a gamut of test. So, you know, there is something called basic radiology, which would be x-ray, ECG, you know, ultrasound, TMT test, etcetera. And then there is high end radiology, which would be CT, MRI, maybe even, let's say, a PET CT scan, scanners and things like that. So basic radiology, you know, we do in in some of our urban markets. We we do basic radiology, although it's still very low contributor.
So but we had we were running some pilots, which we continue to do on high end radiology, and and we are still working on a plan as to how we will expand into high end radiology, which is CT MRI. That that that business plan is still not fully frozen. But, yeah, that's an opportunity that we are aware. And, you know, at the appropriate time, we will we will look at maybe that business model as well as a part of our growth strategy.
Sure. Sure. That's helpful. And last couple of quick bookkeeping questions. What was the growth in the suburban this quarter as well as the margin for this quarter?
So, Arthita, as we have merged now this, you know, so separately, it is not suburban, but best as a whole, which we have already answered. Shankar has given that due to this IT step change, now maybe going forward, it will come back what we used to do two quarters earlier. But right now, this quarter also is impacted because of this changeover. And obviously, margins also is now whole as a company, it's not separately. But this this quarter and the last quarter was impacted due to this IT state change.
Okay. And this quarter, your tax rate is 26%. Well, is there any change or or 26% is something we should build in for the full year and the coming years as
Yeah. So 25, 26% is the normal tax rate. If you are comparing with the last year, if you see there was some deferred tax reversal because of suburban, you know, and so that was the onetime impact we have explained last time. But going forward, I think this is the standard rate, 25%, 26% is the standard rate.
Understood. And I think last year on the guidance, you said you are expecting better than the earlier guidance of 27% EBITDA margin. But is there are you also revising up your growth guidance, revenue of 11 to 12%?
No.
On the revenue side, we we will stay with our 11 to 12% revenue growth projection.
Okay. Okay. That's helpful. Thank you so much. That's all from my side.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Harshil from Merai Asset Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Thank you sir and thanks for the opportunity. Sir most of the questions are answered just need one understanding from you. So while you've alluded to quite a lot of reasons for a very good volume growth that you've achieved, sir, I just also wanted to kind of have your qualitative views on we've seen a good volume growth, also the competitive intensity as you kind of, like, said is benign. So, sir, in this whole thing, how do you see the mix from unorganized to organized moving around across markets? Maybe, you know, would that has that picked up or probably, you know, how how should we see that going ahead just in the light of the volume growth that we've got?
So, you know, the caveat always is that we don't have a very clear industry level number. So all that we are saying is obviously, you know, some extrapolations from what we observed from the other listed players and what kind of results they are declaring and some of the maybe quasi listed players and what kind of results they are declaring. I think at an overall level, I think one can see that the listed quasi listed space definitely seeing a slightly better revenue volume growth. And to that extent, one can imagine that maybe the the shift towards organized is is getting slightly more accelerated. But these are all directional statements.
I think the the actual percentages or rate of change, you know, contributions, etcetera, are very difficult to pinpoint.
Okay. Okay. That's helpful, sir. Thank you. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question for today. I now hand over the conference to management for closing comments.
Thank you everyone for joining us today. We truly appreciate your continued search and support. We hope we have been able to digest all your questions. Please don't hesitate to reach out to us if you have any further queries. Thank you once again, and my best wishes to all of you. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. On behalf of that, this concludes this conference.