Latest News | Infertility Clinic Chain Indira IVF Plans Overseas Foray

Mumbai, Jul 30 (PTI) The Udaipur-based Indira IVF, which leads the test-tube baby (in vitro fertility or IVF) market in the country, having successfully co-birthed 85,000 babies in the past 10 years, is going international as part of its plan to double the topline over the next five years to around Rs 1,500 crore.

The country's largest infertility clinic chain has 96 clinics now and is adding four more by the end of August, with the 100th clinic coming up in Bhatinda in Punjab.

The world's first test tube baby -- Louise Joy Brown -- was born on July 25, 1978 in Manchester in England, and the first such in the country who was also the second in the world, was born three months later on October 3, 1978 when Kanupriya Agarwal was born under embryologist Subhash Mukherjee care in Pune. The country is home to over 7 lakh IVF babies today, while the world has over 5 million.

"As we enter the second decade, we are making a foray into international markets. We are entering Bangladesh and Nepal, to begin with, which should happen by the end of this year or early next year. In fact, we were planning to enter this year, but for the pandemic. In the second phase, we will also expand into Southeast Asia with clinics in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam," Indira IVF co-founder and chief executive Kshitiz Murdia told PTI.

Without specifying how many clinics will be opened outside and by when and what the investment is planned, he said on average a clinic needs an investment of Rs 5-7 crore in the country and outside it should take 20 per cent more.

The American private equity major TA Associates-backed Indira IVF closed FY'21 with a revenue of Rs 740 core (USD 100 million), he said, adding that plan is to double it by FY'26 (at least USD 200 million) and expand footprint to 150 clinics.

In April 2019, TA Associates picked up 35 per cent in the chain and the rest of the equity is with the founders, he said, without disclosing the investment saying the matter is private.

Murdia said, over the past five years, its revenue has been clipping at an compounded annual rate of 63 per cent (from USD 20 million to over USD 100 million), while the clinic opening has been 95 per cent, barring last year due to the pandemic impact in revenue and expansion.

On profitability, he said since their rates, which vary from Rs 1.5-Rs 1.8 lakh but charges similar rates across the country unlike others, its net margin is over 30 per cent.

He also said the company is looking at entering Europe, especially Eastern Europe, inorganically and if an acquisition happens, they may look at additional equity investment into the company, otherwise no.

Founded by Ajay Murdia and Kshitiz Murdia in 2011 in Udaipur, the country's largest infertility treatment chain has completed 85,000 successful IVF pregnancies till date, making it the largest in the country.

It also leads in pregnancies with a success rate of 74 per cent while the industry average is only around 40 per cent, Kshitiz Murdia said.

He attributed the high success rate to the increased technological interventions such as closed chambers technology, electronic witnessing, microfluidics, and now artificial intelligence and machine learning. The last two will plan more and more critical role going forward, Murdia said.

"We are piloting an artificial intelligence and machine learning-driven treatment now, as medical treatment has moved to objectivity from subjectivity. Under this embryo assessment will be more automated. See, healthcare is more a science today than an art," he said.

Other leading mutli-centre players include Nova IVF, Morpheus IVF, Milan Fertility, Art Fertility among others.

Indira IVF performs about 30,000+ IVF procedures a year – the highest number in the country.

The company employs over 200 doctors, 125 embryologists and a total support staff of over 2,000 across its clinics which are all owned and operated by the company to ensure service quality, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)