Calcutta, July 27: Piramal Healthcare Ltd is looking at domestic acquisitions for its diagnostic arm Piramal Diagnostic Services Pvt Ltd.

Revenues from the diagnostic business grew 60.8 per cent to Rs 40.49 crore in the first quarter of 2008-09 from Rs 25.19 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

“We will explore organic and inorganic options to maintain growth momentum in this business. We are looking not only at the size of the diagnostic services business but also at niche offerings,” said Ajay Piramal, chairman, Piramal Healthcare.

At present, Piramal Diagnostic is present in 90 cities and plans to expand its reach to 110 cities by the end of this year.

During the quarter, Piramal Diagnostic also introduced Asia’s first high-definition PET or CT scanner for the diagnosis of various ailments at an early stage. Marketing and distribution will be the primary focus of the domestic tie-ups.

“We are constantly on the look out for such tie-ups to leverage our strong marketing and distribution network built over the years. In categories where we have niche expertise, we already have an entrenched market presence, which could be leveraged to bring new products in the domestic healthcare segment,” Piramal said.

Piramal Healthcare recently inked a deal with the US-based BioElectronics for its pain-management equipment, ActiPatch, to be launched in August. The company has also shifted a substantial part of its work in creating active pharmaceutical ingredients from the UK to India.

For its dermo-cosmetic product range, the company is looking to use active plant ingredients made in France and do the formulation here.

“This helps us achieve cost advantage in both cases. The results for pharmaceutical solutions are reflected in the 115 per cent growth of the company’s Indian operations,” Piramal said.

Piramal Healthcare, along with French company Pierre Fabre, is investing Rs 10 crore to launch Ducray, a range of dermo-cosmetic products sold only through prescriptions in India.

The dermo-cosmetic market, still in its nascent stage in the country, has huge growth potential for the company and over a course of time will attract more investment.