Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Dr. Lal PathLabs Q1 FY27 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on your touch-tone phone. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Siddharth Rangnekar from CDR India. Thank you. Over to you, sir.
Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Dr. Lal PathLabs quarter one FY 2027 earnings conference call. Today, we are joined by senior members of the management team, including Honorary Brigadier Dr. Arvind Lal , Executive Chairman, Mr. Shankha Banerjee , CEO, and Mr. Ved Prakash Goel , Group CFO and CEO International Business. I would like to share our standard disclaimer. Some of the statements made on today's call could be forward-looking in nature, actual results could vary from these forward-looking statements. A detailed description in this regard is available in the results presentation that has been circulated to you and is also available on the stock exchange website. I would now like to invite Dr. Arvind Lal to share his perspectives. Thank you. Over to you, sir.
Thank you very much. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our first earnings call for the financial year 2027. FY 2027 is for us a year of execution, scaling what we have already built, deepening our reach into new markets, including rural. The Indian diagnostics industry remains firmly in a structural growth phase. Demand is no longer anchored only to episodic illness. It is increasingly shaped by the rising burden of lifestyle and non-communicable diseases, growing health awareness, and driving disposable incomes that are making regular preventive testing a part of everyday life. We also remain deeply committed to providing access to quality diagnostics in the underserved regions of the country. Towards that cause, we have launched a rural outreach program which is now active in seven states, we have tested more than 110,000 patients in these areas in the first quarter of this year.
We have continued to widen our footprint with purpose. The incorporation of our wholly owned subsidiary in Dubai marks a considered first step in extending our diagnostics expertise outside India, building on our existing presence in Nepal and Bangladesh. In parallel, the broader healthcare ecosystem is expanding, with hospitals across the country adding new capacity and capability. This tailwind is opening up deeper integration, stronger clinical partnerships, great scope for super specialized testing over time. Dr. Lal PathLabs is well placed to lead through this shift, our continued investment in scientific leadership, R&D, digital infrastructure, and service standards, it gives clearly a catalytic responsibility for long term. I will now hand over to Mr. Shankha Banerjee to take you through our operational and financial performance for the quarter. Over to you, Shankha.
Thank you, Dr. Lal, and good evening. We are glad to be here today to review our operational performance and strategic milestones as we conclude the first quarter of financial year 2027. We have entered the new fiscal year with strong operational momentum, sustaining the resilient growth trajectory established in FY 2026. We are at INR 98 crore in Q1 FY 2027, registering a year-on-year growth of 19.1%. It is important to note that this revenue growth rate is the highest quarterly growth rate achieved in the last four years. The revenue growth is mainly driven by patient volumes, which stood at 8.2 million, with a growth of 8.2%, and sample volumes, which stood at 25.9 million, with a growth of 10.7%. It is important to note that our performance continues to be driven by underlying organic business trends.
Our execution strategy rests on three key pillars. The first, under that, we have launched 116 new tests with four first-in-India tests in this quarter. Expanded advanced diagnostics through NGS chimerism , flow cytometry MDS assay, PERFORM assay AI-enabled histopathology. The second pillar is enhanced patient experience. On that, we have launched a GenAI patient bot on WhatsApp, enabling conversational transactions delivered with journeys for test inquiry, location inquiry, and report access. It reduces booking friction, personalizes interactions, and positions Dr. Lal PathLabs at the forefront of GenAI patient engagement. The third pillar is operational excellence. The sustained focus on operational excellence has resulted in industry-leading turn-around time on whole-exome sequencing to 15 days and an express whole-exome sequences in 10 days. Our routine testing portfolio of more than 400 tests is now delivered in three hours for almost 90% of walk-in patients.
We visit infrastructure and AI tools to improve customer experience, optimize operations, and advance clinical capabilities in areas such as histopathology and cancer diagnostics. Looking ahead, we are well positioned to maintain our targeted sustainable revenue growth over the medium term, backed by structural volume tailwinds, expanding diagnostic footprint, and enhanced focus on high-end specialized tests. We also retain a significant pricing headroom as a strategic lever going forward. With that, I will now hand over the call to Ved to discuss the financial metrics for the quarter in more detail.
Thank you, Shankha. Good evening, everyone, and a warm welcome. Thank you for joining us today. I will take you through the key financial highlights for the quarter ending 30th June 2026. Revenue for Q1 FY 2027 stood at INR 798 crore compared to INR 670 crore in the same quarter last year, reflecting a strong growth of 19.1%. Revenue per patient rose to INR 968, up by 10% from INR 818 in the Q1 last year. These are favorable change in the test and geographic mix and increase in CGHS, ECHS prices. Test per patient increased to 3.14, compared to 3.07 in the same period last year, highlighting continued traction in our Swasthfit portfolio. EBITDA for the quarter came in at INR 247 crore versus INR 192 crore in Q1 FY 2026, with a growth of 28.6%, with EBITDA margin of 31%.
Profit before tax rose to INR 169 crore from INR 181 crore, up 26.3%, with a PBT margin of 28.7%. Profit after tax stood at INR 170 crore compared to INR 134 crore in Q1 FY 2026, delivering 27.2% growth with a PAT margin of 21.4%. Earnings per share for Q1 FY 2027 came in at INR 10.1, up 27.8% from INR 7.9 in the corresponding quarter last year. Our balance sheet continued to be strong and resilient with a net cash and equivalent of INR 1,693 crore as on June 30th, 2026. Now I would like to give you an update on two transitions which the board has approved. First, acquisition of 80% equity stake in Sunshine Healthcare Limited, Ghana, engaged in diagnostic business for a consideration not exceeding Ghanaian Cedi of GHS 45.6 million.
The second, the acquisition of 30% equity stake in Neuome Technologies Private Limited, engaged in innovative solution in sample preservation and biobanking, for a consideration not exceeding INR 3.5 crore. This is in line with our focus on strengthening healthcare innovation. Further, I am happy to share that the board of directors have declared an interim dividend of 50%, that is INR 5 per share. We remain confident in our outlook and our ability to deliver sustainable and profitable growth while continuing to uphold our commitment to providing reliable and high-quality diagnostics. I conclude my opening remarks. I would now request the moderator to open the line for Q and A.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question- and- answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask questions may press star and one on their touch-tone 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 questions. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. To ask questions, please press star and one. The first question is from Amey from GM Financial. Please go ahead.
Thank you for taking my question. Congrats to the management on the good set of numbers. Our first question on the revenue per sample and the revenue per patient growth. It is quite high this quarter. You mentioned in your remarks that some of it is led by the hike in the CGHS prices. Is it possible to quantify how much portion of it would it be, and how sustainable? Should we assume that the growth will pick up for the entire year because of this?
Yeah. Thanks for the question, Amey. The CGHS, ECHS price increase is now flowing through into the system. Our assessment is that it kind of is impacting to the tune between 2%-3% at an overall company level. I think this benefit will continue for at least another two to three quarters.
Sure. In terms of volume growth, this is second quarter we have maintained 8% volume growth. Q1 is slightly softer quarter, will this volume growth continue or will it improve in the remaining of the year? What is our sense?
At the beginning of the year, I think we had said that we are looking at a volume growth, which is patient volume, between 6%-7%. Q1 has definitely come slightly ahead in terms of the patient volume growth number. I think it is too early to comment because we've also mentioned in the past that one quarter is not maybe the way to really judge of the business because there could be some shifts between quarters which may happen. I think once we are through Q2 as well, when we have done half the year, we might be in a better position to talk about what the outlook for the year could be more
Sure. Just last question, if I can squeeze in. Look, we were talking about general price hike for second half of this year. Because of this, now the CGHS contribution is helping us. Should we assume that this price hike will be delayed now?
Amey, I think price increase is something for us which is quite a strategic lever. It depends on multiple factors, including how the pricing table of the competition is moving, as well as are there any cost pressures, et cetera, that need to be looked at. Right now, we had anyway indicated that we would be thinking about something related to price only towards the end of the year. I think somewhere there is when we will reassess whether a pricing change is required or not. As of now, we were anyway not thinking about a price increase in the first half of the year. I think we'll look at it once the first half of the year is over.
Sure, sir. Thank you so much. I will join back.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from Tausif Shaikh from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Good evening, thanks for the opportunity, and congrats on a good set of numbers. On your opening remark, you have said that Dr. Lal has started a rural program in seven states. Can you just throw some light on the program? Also the patient volume growth of 8%, is it fair to assume the large part of volume growth will be coming from Tier 2 cities of North India?
The rural outreach program is a drive that we have taken. It's kind of initiative where we are looking at NCD or the non-communicable disease burden is not only there in the urban part of the country, but we assess is maybe there in the rural part of the country. This drive is more of a health initiative for the rural people. We have actually started this some few quarters back, and right now I think we are talking about it because it has reached some level of scale. In terms of the overall patient volume growth, the patient volume growth we are seeing is across the geography. It is not restricted to one geography.
That's helpful. Just last question. Do you maintain your guidance of mid-teen revenue growth and EBITDA margin of 27%-28% for this fiscal after a strong start?
Like I was mentioning to the previous question, that the first quarter results have come slightly ahead of our expectations. We'll have obviously, I would say, more positive way of giving a forecast or a change in forecast after the first half of the year is over. Having said that, looking at how we have moved in first quarter, chances are we might be more towards mid-teens rather than early teens.
That's helpful. I'll get back. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from Yogesh Soni from Haitong Securities. Please go ahead.
Yep. Thank you, sir, for the opportunity. First thing is I want to understand on the Swasthfit. What I understand is that Swasthfit has been growing at a healthy rate around high teens to near 20%. Do we expect Swasthfit to continue sustain this high-teens kind of a growth going forward as well?
Even this quarter, our Swasthfit growth has been kind of in the 20% range as well. I think we are definitely looking at sustaining this growth at this level. That's the idea. What we are seeing is that we are seeing traction of Swasthfit even at Tier 2 and Tier 3 geography. It is getting much more wider acceptance and therefore we believe that this growth rate we should be able to sustain for some more time.
Just to add on to what you said, your rural outreach program, is that also expected to elevate the Swasthfit growth?
The rural outreach program is not driven by Swasthfit. It's a different program. It's a much more affordable rural kind of a package. There the objective is, like I said, is more about trying to see how we can serve the rural population, identify what kind of non-communicable diseases are prevalent there, and then later on see how that part of the population can also get the benefit of good quality testing to identify their conditions. It is not Swasthfit though. Yeah.
Okay. Understood, sir. Second question, sir. I wanted to understand how are we tracking on the genomics and radiology front. I mean, whether the contribution from these segments have reached near high single digit or are we at a lower revenue contribution?
You see, we don't really talk about genomics separately in terms of the contribution. Suffice to say that we are focused on genomics given that it has quite a lot of application in the newer emerging cancer diagnostics and even some of the other diagnostic areas. Therefore, we are kind of focused on that portfolio. It is not in terms of contribution, not moving significantly. It is still less than 5% of our portfolio.
Okay. Thank you, sir, for your answers.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question is from Anubhav Agarwal from Emkay. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. First question is on the increase in realizations. Just wanted to understand this better, sir. What kind of contribution would be coming from this favorable geographic or favorable test mix? I understand CGHS rate hikes has resulted into 2%-3% realization hike. The other components, what could be the contribution, if you could just throw some light here?
Like I think Ved mentioned in the opening remarks, it's a mix of the test and geography. Now, different portfolios are there. The contribution mix from different geographies, like for example, we said Delhi NCR for us is a higher realization geography. The performance in Delhi leads to better realization. Likewise, when you look at the overall geography mix, each individual item will be very difficult for us to say because our pricing is different in different geographies, geographic clusters. If you take out the CGHS, ECHS pricing benefit of 2%-3%, the rest is because of the test and geography mix.
Okay. I can sort of deduce that Delhi or the core NCR region would have grown in line or slightly better than what the overall portfolio has done.
Our idea has always been to grow Delhi NCR in line double digit and as near to the overall revenue as possible, and we are still able to achieve that.
Great, sir. Sir, second question is on the acquisitions that we have made in the current quarter. First on Neuome Technologies. If I understand this correctly, is this sort of venturing into allied healthcare services or will this investment be used to sort of for internal consumption or a backward integration kind of purposes?
Neuome Technologies is a startup which is working on what some interesting innovative possibilities within the diagnostic supply chain. We see some of these justify they have huge operational benefit through to the business and I think we will jointly be working with the teams there to make some of these things successful. It is not about pouring into something new, but lot of it will be direct benefit in our operational business.
Got it, sir. One question on the other acquisition. What percentage of the overall revenue is being contributed by international business currently and any plans or any target for this business to sort of contribute, say, high single-digit revenue to the overall revenues, say, three to four years out, five years out?
It is a slightly longer wavelength project for us. These are the steps that we are taking today. Doesn't necessarily mean that the contribution from these markets or international is going to change significantly in the near term. The idea is, yes, over a slightly longer-term horizon, we should be able to increase the contribution of international. As of now, we have not set ourselves any target like that because we still need to learn a lot about running the international operations, fine-tuning it, settling it down. I think once we get those things done and we understand the dynamics of running more international geographies which are not really in the Indian subcontinent, we may be thinking about a plan of really putting forward numbers on how we would like the contribution to look like four, five years down the line.
Got it, sir. Just one last question, if I can squeeze in. Any guidance on the number of lab additions that we plan to do for the current year? Will it continue just like last year?
Yeah, it is going to be more like last year. We are looking at between 12-15 labs to be added this year as well.
Anything on the radiology front, sir? Would we look to add more centers?
There are a few centers that we are looking at to add in Delhi NCR and we may also try and pilot one or two centers outside of Delhi NCR into Tier 2 towns to see how that business model shapes up. It could be maybe three to four centers this year.
Great. Those are all the questions. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from Prakash Kapadia from Kapadia Financial Services. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hello. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Am I audible?
Yeah. Yes, Prakash.
Really appreciate the growth trajectory, which has come from all the efforts which we've been taking have fructified, hope this becomes a structurally high growth company as we've always hoped for. Congrats to the team. Finally, all the efforts are showing. A couple of questions from my end. West India, how has been the performance, if you could give some insights? Because we had a low base earlier. There were integration issues. How is West India shaping up?
Right. Prakash, I think the good news is post the integration, the LIMS integration that we did, the whole digital thing. I think for this quarter also, we are seeing our traction improving. It is the Suburban business specifically, which is the main driver of our West portfolio right now, is really turning around and is on trajectory moving. It is very close double digits actually right now in terms of growth.
That should continue. Right? What seems to be behind this all.
Yeah
Shouldn't that be slightly higher in growth average now?
Yeah. You are right. That is exactly the plan, that this quarter also we have started, rather last quarter itself, we had started now investing into newer store, newer radiology centers and collection network through the Suburban brand. We are quite hopeful that in the coming quarters this trajectory should start moving up further.
Right. [inaudible] Operating leverage
Your voice is cracking. Can't hear the question.
Yeah. Hello?
I'm sorry. We seem to have lost the line for Prakash. We'll take the next question. The next question is from Saion Mukherjee from Nomura. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks, and good evening. You mentioned one pillar of growth, which is these new tests which you are introducing. Some of them are first in India or even in Asia. I just wanted to understand the kind of market opportunity these new tests provide, and do you develop these in-house or do you partner through business development efforts with other companies abroad? If you can just talk about the dynamics there and given India's demographics, what's the kind of addressable market size all these new tests can have?
Saion, the pillar that I talked about was not really new tests. The pillar that I talked about was scientific excellence. One of the factors around scientific excellence and specifically in the clinician community is the ability to solve complicated cases and ability to really be able to do highly complex testing. The company which helps solve complicated cases also is a natural choice for all the other testing that might be emanating from that institution or for that clinician specialist. The way that we track the results are not for the new tests that are getting launched because they may be far and few in between, but it is about our ability to really convert more clinicians or get more clinics. Dr. Lal PathLabs as a diagnostic provider and therefore their share of business accrues to the company.
Understood. These tests are developed by you in-house or they are kind of in partnership with other companies? How does the-
They are-
Dynamic work?
I think there are both kinds, but right now a lot of this is in partnerships, including international partnerships.
Okay. Great. Thank you. Just one question I think you talk about it further, international foray currently the contribution is not significant, right? It may not increase meaningfully at least in the next three, four years. Will that be a right assessment?
The contribution is less than 5%, I would say at least in the next years significantly going beyond that number.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from Shyam Srinivasan from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Good evening. Thank you for taking my question. Just the first one on the increase in the revenue per patient. Just trying to dissect again. I thought in your remarks you said geographic mix, test mix and CGHS you obviously called out at between 2% and 3%. I just noticed that the Swasthfit contribution year-over-year has not changed. When you mean test mix, what would that mean?
We have portfolio of specialized tests. We have other tests also which high realization. The Swasthfit contribution remains the same because it has grown similar. It has also grown around 20%, and overall revenue has also grown around 19%. Therefore, contribution has not changed. Swasthfit growth is still quite strong, but the contribution has not changed. That is the reason why you see Swasthfit contribution not changing. But the Swasthfit growth is still quite good. And the other part of our portfolio, higher realization portfolios are also growing.
Got it. Shankha, historically, Swasthfit was growing, and this is one quarter where that is not the case. I was just trying to understand, which are these additional tests outside of Swasthfit look like? Is it B2B tests you're saying that we have seen higher realizations? Or makes us move to some of these.
I don't think we are commenting on a test level performance here. But what I can say is that, we have a specialized test portfolio which has higher realization and even that portfolio has done well.
Got it. Very helpful. Second question, this is on this reclassification of costs between the different line items, right? Footnote 15. Some INR 8 crores has changed. Just want to understand, what is between collection fees, other expenses and even in employee expenses, there's been some change. Is it historical? Sorry.
No, Shyam, it's a reclassification related to logistic and courier was regrouped from manpower personal cost to other costs. There is no other reclassification.
Sorry, Ved, your voice was cracking, or maybe it's my line, but can you repeat?
I'm saying there are costs related courier, which has been reclassified from manpower personal cost to other logistic costs, which is part of other costs. There is no reclassification in fees to collection center and all.
Understood. When we now look at employee as a percentage of revenue, the number is 16.6%. Historically, this number used to be 18%, 19%. This is a structural change, right? That's what he thinks. Is that the case?
No. Actually, last quarter also, we have reclassified. This percentage, because we have higher revenue, this percentage is looking low. As such, there is no change otherwise. It's like to like we are from previous quarter as well as this quarter, we have reclassified some expenses.
Got it. Helpful. Thank you, Ved. All the best.
Thank you. The next question is from Rahul Jeewani of IIFL Securities. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thanks for taking my question, and congratulations on a very strong set of numbers. Sir, if you see for the entire diagnostics industry, we have seen a growth acceleration for past two quarters. Including your peers and yourself, there has been some sort of a growth acceleration in fourth quarter and Q1 of this year. Part of the reason which you pointed was the CGHS price increases to the tune of, let's say, 3%. Apart from CGHS increases, has there been any structural change in the industry which is, let's say, now aiding the growth profile for all the diagnostic companies, at least for the past two quarters?
That's an interesting call-out, and you are right. Even when we look at our the growth is structural. It is coming from all the geographies that we have. One thing is obviously, like we said about CGHS, I think any other underlying thing, I think we got to wait for a few more quarters to really get much more clarity in terms of the numbers at a test level, client level, et cetera, before we can decipher, because there is no other differential trigger that we have been able to identify as of now. The growth is from all around.
Sure, sir. Let's say our patient volume growth, which two quarters back hovering around five and a half to 6% kind of a number, and right now we are at 8%. Let's say of this incremental growth on the patient volume side, can you call out the levers which has led to this acceleration? You obviously talked about Suburban adding a larger number of radiology centers. Is that contributing to your patient volume growth acceleration?
Right now I would not jump to that conclusion. The reason is, in Q2 or Q3 of last year when we were doing the call and the conversation, one of the reasons why the patient growth numbers were low was also to do with the fever season. I think we had spoken about that. I think we need the cycle to run through quarters for us to say that what is really caught on because we haven't yet entered fever season this time around. Once Q2, Q3 is done, is when I think there will be more clarity on the patient volume growth number, how is it panning out over the year.
Okay, sure sir. Okay. Yeah. That was it from my side. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from [inaudible].
Hello.
Hello. Your voice is not clear, sorry.
Yeah, I think the next question is from Axis Capital.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, hi. First of all, congrats on a good set of results. Just coming back to the CGHS price hike. I understand that the top line kind of benefited from this. In terms of margins, should we also kind of factor in because your cost would broadly be remaining similar on the fixed part. Was there some benefit on the margin side as well coming in from the higher price realization at CGHS, and will that also kind of continue for the next two, three quarters?
Yeah. There will be a pass-through because of the higher realization, there will be a pass-through to the margin level, and one should see that for maybe one or two quarters now.
The subsequent question is, will you kind of then upgrade your guidance in terms of 27%-28% margins or will that be reinvested into the business at the end of the year?
Yeah. The idea always is to reinvest for future growth. That is the dominant idea. The decisions will be clearer as we go through quarter two because that will give us more visibility on where the annual number could potentially land and therefore if there are any additional investments, et cetera, to be made in the business at that point of time. As of now, we will be looking at Q2 more closely before any of those decisions can be taken. Primarily, we will be leaning towards investing more back into business for growth.
Got it. Lastly, in terms of sustainability of your improvement of test mix or geography mix. I understand we are kind of doing more complex work, scientific excellence, et cetera, but this can sustain over the medium term in terms of driving better realization?
There is a test and a geography mix both. Even besides that, even if routine tests we sell more in markets where our realizations are higher, even that contributes to the geography benefit. Therefore, the realization per patient, we assume that still has some lag because right now Swasthfit contribution has flattened versus last year because overall growth and Swasthfit growth is similar. There are specialized tests as a lever, high realization geographies are a lever. The realization improvement story is likely to stay at least in the next few quarters for sure and then we will see what else or how can it pan out for future. That we will be able to look at maybe towards the end of the year.
Got it. Thanks for that. That's from my side.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from Parth Sodha from Trinetra Asset Managers. Please go ahead.
Am I audible? Hello.
Yes.
Yeah. One second. My question is on the utilizations and the new network addition in the Q1.
What do you mean by utilization?
How many of our instruments are in the labs, we can say, are utilized right now?
I'm not too sure I got your question. Are you talking about capacity utilization?
Yes, sir.
Right. I don't think these are numbers that we kind of talk about, specifically in pathology because capacity is really not a constraint ever. These aren't really numbers we talk about or discuss. On the second question, which is about network expansion, what was the second?
Network additions.
Yeah. The network addition number is something we share once in a year. Like we answered one of the previous questions that this year also there's a plan to add between 12-15 labs.
Okay. I got it. Thank you so much for the opportunity.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from Abdul Puranwala from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Firstly, just again on understanding your revenue growth and specifically your sample growth. Just understanding how the season would have been one of the factors as compared to last year and how would that be influencing your test mix for the quarter as compared to what you were seeing last year?
Quarter one definitely has seen a very different kind of a weather pattern than maybe what we are normally used to in quarter one. We have seen more heat, maybe some off shower sometimes. It has been a very different weather pattern this quarter. However, what we don't know is whether, you know, and what is the impact of that on diagnostic testing. I was mentioning earlier that once we are through quarter two, that is when we can maybe ascertain that was there any shift between the quarters or not. As of now, I don't think we have a very strong view on that. One thing is there, that the weather pattern we saw this quarter has been very different from last year.
Understood, sir. Secondly, on the cost part, if I look at your material cost, despite the realization improvement, we are seeing your gross margin still at close to 81%. How should we read this? Anything to read on the cost escalation, which would have happened because of geopolitical issues here?
Abdul, I think, as of now, we are able to maintain our cost by, as last call I mentioned that we have stepped up our purchases or inventory. There is not much impact on that account. Yes, having said that, if this continues, then obviously, movement in currency and overall inflation may impact our material cost because we use most of these imported materials for testing. As of now, there is not much impact on that.
Okay. Anything to read on the realization improvement versus not much of an impact on your gross margins?
The realization improvement, like we mentioned that one part of that is what we are seeing as the pass-through of CGHS and ECHS pricing. The rest, which is to do with, let's say, test mix. Higher realization tests also have a higher cost. Therefore, I wouldn't read too much to say that if realization is improving, therefore, naturally, the material cost as a percentage will start going down. I think we have one of the better gross margins. I don't think we would be looking at saying that this will significantly improve going forward.
Another, you see, Abdul, while you are looking as a percentage, if you see test per patient is going up. Now, this time, we have a test per patient, 1.4, which is last year same quarter, it was 3.07. Test per patient is also improving and maybe that flow through may be compensated through that also, somewhat.
Sir, anything on our margin guidance? Earlier, we talked about 27%, 28%. How are we looking at the margins for the full year now after this stellar performance in Q1?
Again, as Shankha mentioned earlier, that of course, this flow through because of this price increase will come, but idea is to invest back into the business, and we will be in a better position after maybe Q2, whether it is panning out or we will change our guidance on that.
Understood, sir. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from Sumit Gupta from Antique. Please go ahead.
Have a good evening. Thanks for the opportunity and congrats on a good set of results. First question.
Sumit, your voice is not clear.
Can you come closer to mic, please?
Is it fine now, sir?
Yes, better.
Hello.
Yeah, please go ahead.
Sure, sir. First is on the, how has the B2C segment performed this quarter? What was the realization growth?
B2C contribution for us has been in the range of 75%, and even this quarter, it's in a similar ratio. Our B2C contribution remains around 75%.
Okay. We can expect this trend to continue, or can we expect this to improve?
The mix of B2C and B2B at 75% and 25% is a mix which we believe is a good mix. There is benefit of both these channels for us, and we would be quite happy to keep growing both these channels to ensure that we are able to retain this mix also going forward.
Sure, sir. The second is on the Suburban. Like you mentioned, there was a double-digit growth in Suburban. With respect to profitability, has it improved over the last one and a half years?
Suburban profitability, we are not calculating separately because the back end has been merged post the voluntary liquidation of Suburban. The integration of all our back-end structures has happened. There is an interoperability between both the brands in that geography. We are not separately calculating profitability for Suburban now.
Okay. Sir, lastly, on the structural point of view from the industry, with respect to hospital-based labs, are you facing any competition or has it abated? Are you gaining market share from the standalone industry?
There is no industry-level data for us to pick out is it a shift of market share from one type of competitor or another type of competitor. I think one thing that we can say for sure is that we are seeing a broad-based improvement in terms of the growth in this quarter. Competition in the industry has always been intense and is likely to stay intense. If one part of the sector, we think may be reducing intensity, there will be another part of the sector which will increase intensity. I don't think any of us are banking on competitive intensity reducing in this industry.
Understood, sir. Basically, I was trying to understand it. Basically, it's the diagnostic chains and the hospital-based labs which will grow in tandem and take market share from the standalone labs. How should we look forward, let's say over the next five years, 10 years, how is the industry shaping up?
Yeah, I think as a long-term trend, definitely there will be shift from unorganized to organized, but that's a slightly slow shift given that there are still low entry barriers and therefore, at the bottom end, there could still be smaller labs entering the fray. Since the overall size of the pie is also increasing, they will have some way to gain profitability even at a lower scale. Yeah, structurally, it is shifting and will continue to shift from the unorganized to organized.
Understood, sir. Thank you. All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from Akash Shah from Investec. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir, and congratulations on the good set of numbers. Just two questions. When you say that your Swasthfit has improved by 20%, and also your overall revenues have improved by 19%, should we read that as the percentage of specialized tests improving and whether it is structured or not? Second, how do you see the overall competitive scenario on the price front? Thank you.
If you look at Swasthfit, which is 27% of our revenues, and look at the balance, 73%, all the 73% is not specialized portfolio. Even that portfolio test because Swasthfit is a bundle. There are still tests which get sold outside of the bundle. It is not as if all of the other growth is only in the specialized area. Even the routine business in geographies has grown for us. In terms of your question on the competitive intensity or pricing, I think we are not seeing structurally any price change maybe between the last few quarters. That remains. Neither has it become worse too favorable if you look at the last few quarters.
All right, sir. Thank you, sir. That's it.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from Surya Narayan Patra from PhillipCapital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity, sir. My first question is on the patient volume growth, what we are seeing, whether anything to read from the rural-urban mix that you'd be having.
You mean the patient volume?
Yeah.
Yeah. the patient volume this quarter, there is no rural-urban divide. Like I mentioned in one of the previous questions, we are seeing a kind of an overall, all geography kind of a good growth.
Okay. In terms of your network, sir, is it possible to kind of have a sense what is the mix between the rural and urban?
You mean labs?
Yes. Labs.
We have disclosed in our annual results in the last quarter that the Tier 3, Tier 4, I don't know what you really mean by rural, but we are talking, let's say Tier 3 and below. Tier 3 and below is about 39% of our revenues in the last financial year.
My second question is about the CGHS price rise, what we are witnessing. It is across the test portfolio, or it is for some selective or specific area. It would be different for different players in terms of the benefit. For as CGHS's price rise is concerned, how should we understand that?
CGHS has released the price increase, which is a common price list for the country.
Okay.
It is not different by different area, except I think they have a certain price cut by a different type of geography that they have done. It applied similarly across the country.
Okay. Sir, I just wanted to understand your experience about the Sovaaka initiatives, and how is that helping us in any manner?
Sovaaka is a venture which is a high-end premium diagnostics driven wellness portfolio. It's a completely new concept, and I think I had even mentioned it earlier that our endeavor right now is to look at the first center that we've launched, stabilize it, fine-tune it, understand the business growth model, how we are going to drive it. I think once that model becomes fully established is when we will think about scale-up and it becoming any significant part of the business. As of now, it is more in the two kind of implementation phase. We are still on the learning path on that.
Okay. Just last one piece from my side, sir. About your inorganic growth plans. In the previous quarter that you had mentioned about inorganic growth possibility in the Dubai region by creating a 100% subsidiary and all that. That was one. This quarter we are seeing your entry into the African market. Are we becoming a bit aggressive about creating our international presence generally, or it is for some specific reason? Any thought process about the international growth, inorganic growth plan?
The international business growth for us is a slightly longer-term plan, which we are seeing should play out in the three to five-year horizon. These are steps that are being taken to ensure that our understanding in these markets that we are focusing on, which is Africa, some parts of Middle East and CIS and Southeast Asia. That how can we run local businesses. Those things are where we are going to focus on in the near term, so that maybe we can then build it more in the future.
Okay. For the time being, is it fair to believe that the focus, let's say, even if any focus or any interest that would be there, that is in the area of GCC and Africa?
Right now, the focus area for us is Africa, Middle East, CIS, and Southeast Asia.
Oh, okay. Sure. Yeah, that is helpful, sir. Thank you. Wish you all the best.
Thank you. Next question is from Mohammed Patel from Edelweiss Public Alternatives. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, can you hear me?
Yes, please.
Sir, we are sitting on approximately INR 1,700 crore of cash. I wanted to understand how are we going to utilize this cash, and what are your overall thoughts on capital allocation?
One of the major utilization of cash as we see going forward would be for M&A. We have said that if you look geographically also within India, there are parts of the country where are represented. We are looking at possibilities of getting a play, which could be a slightly larger asset within a given city. Primarily, that's where the cash utilization will happen, mostly on M&A. Secondly, would be around some of the high-end radiology centers that we are slowly rolling out, whether it is in Delhi, NCR, and other Tier 2 markets in north. That is also a bit of CapEx that we put in besides our maintenance annual CapEx that we do.
What should be the CapEx number for this year and next year?
We said roughly about INR 140-INR 150 crores.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. We'll take that as the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management team for closing comments.
Thank you all for joining us this call today and for your continued trust and support. We hope we have been able to address your questions satisfactorily. Should you have any further queries, please feel free to reach out to us. Thank you once again, and have a good day. Thank you.
Thank you very much. On behalf of Dr. Lal PathLabs, that concludes the conference. Thank you for joining us, ladies and gentlemen. You may now disconnect your lines.