Dr Lal PathLabs, India's largest pathology chain will be investing Rs 25 crore for acquisitions in the coming months and has projected its turnover to cross the Rs 100 crore mark by March 2008.

A couple of months after announcing its intentions to increase the network of laboratories to 50 by 2009, it has already added five more labs to increase the strength to 25, company's chief operating officer, O P Manchanda, told Pharmabiz.

A mix of acquisitions and setting up own laboratories is powering the expansion strategy. The acquisitions are being funded through internal accruals, venture fund, Sequoia Capital, and debt.

``About 80 per cent of our business comes from Delhi and NCR region. Our plan is to increase the share of business in rest of the country. We have already opened labs in Bangalore, Kolkota and Mumbai and our focus now will be South and West for consolidation,'' he said.

For the just concluded financial year, the company has collected about Rs 75 crore worth business, as per early calculations. The company is also in talks with some chain of labs to take them over or to work with them, enjoying a higher stake and ownership to ensure quality of the brand.

The decision to rapidly expand is prompted by the company's belief that there is a tremendous need of setting up of quality testing labs across India especially since 70 per cent of treatment decisions are based on laboratory tests.

``There is a clear trend among the patients across the country that they should get the tests done in branded and good labs. Most of the unaccredited and substandard labs are finding it hard to survive,'' he said.

Dr Lal PathLabs has set for itself the goal of leading the process of consolidation and garner a market share of 10 per cent in the next two-three years with a revenue target of Rs 200 crore by 2009. The College of American Pathologists and the National Accreditation Board accredit its labs for Testing and Calibration Laboratories. They treat 1.6 million patients a year through their 25 labs and 450 collection centers across 250 cities of India.