Pharmaceutical company Lupin is planning to enter the diagnostics sector, with a formal launch expected in October. The company is looking to make a foray into a sector that has potential for double-digit growth and low entry barriers.
Lupin Diagnostics will be a part of Lupin Healthcare and will be a fully-owned subsidiary of Lupin, Business Standard has reported.
Lupin is hiring staff for the new business, finalising franchise partners, and setting up a 45,000 square feet laboratory in Navi Mumbai, the report said.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the story.
Lupin did not comment when contacted by Business Standard.
Anubhav Aggarwal and Sayantan Maji of Credit Suisse said competition in the diagnostics space will increase with the entry of Lupin, the report said.
"Low entry barriers, high returns on capital employed (over 50 percent), and fast growth (do uble-digit) profile of the diagnostics sector hasbeen lately attracting new entrants, including digital health aggregators," the analysts said, as quoted by the publication.
Lupin has already recruited an experienced team with a background in the diagnostics sector, who have worked at companies like Apollo Diagnostics, Dr Lal's Pathlabs, SRL, and Reliance Life Sciences, the analysts said.