Ladies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to the Q3 and nine-month FY 2024 earnings conference call of Metropolis Healthcare Limited, hosted by Yes Securities. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company, which are based on beliefs, opinion, and expectation of the company as on date of this call. These statements do not guarantee the future performance of the company, and it may involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on a touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Bhavesh Gandhi from Yes Securities. Thank you, and over to you, sir. Thank you, Ria, and good morning, everyone. On behalf of Yes Securities Limited, I, Bhavesh Gandhi, welcome you all for Metropolis Q3 FY 2024 earnings call. With us today, we have the Metropolis senior management team, represented by Ms. Ameera Shah, Managing Director, Mr. Surendran Chemmenkotil, CEO, and Mr. Rakesh Agarwal, Chief Financial Officer. I will now hand over the call to Ameera Ma'am for her opening remarks. Over to you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on the Q3 FY 2024 earnings call. Today, I'm joined by Surend, the CEO, Rakesh, CFO, and SGA, our IR advisor. We've uploaded our updated result document on the stock exchanges and the company's website, and I hope everyone's had an opportunity to go through the same. We are happy to report a 12.3% year-on-year revenue growth in our core revenue for Q3 FY 2024, of which 9% has been contributed by patient growth volume, and the balance 3% is on account of product mix change. The performance in Q3 was marginally impacted on account of heavy rainfall and floods in Chennai and adjacent areas in December 2023, leading to a loss of revenues of approximately 7-8 days from the Chennai region, which is one of the focus cities for Metropolis. We estimate growth would have been closer to 13.5% without this disruption. We have been witnessing a consistent increase in our volume for our core business over the last seven quarters and are optimistic about the growth trajectory going forward. Let me begin with some broad industry insights and specific trends for the quarter gone by. Diagnostics as an industry is poised to grow at about 8%-10% CAGR by FY 2027, and we had laid out our addressable market, which is poised to grow at about 10%-11% CAGR. Being a pioneer in the industry, we are confident of outperforming the market growth. Outsourcing by market industry growth will be primarily driven by, number one, geographical expansion that is deeper into retail existing markets and wider penetration into new markets. Second, capturing large market share in the wellness segment among consumers who are healthy. Number three, increase specialized testing segment by building more credibility with the best specialized doctors in the country. Number four, better execution in terms of distribution, service quality, testing report quality and strength of test mix. Speaking of the quarter gone by, on-ground situations and relative competitive intensity. Historically, the third quarter typically experiences a slowdown in the healthcare sector due to festivities and holiday season. Looking at past trends in hospitals, pharmaceuticals, and diagnostic companies, Q3 usually reflects a decrease in activity, and this quarter follows the same pattern across the healthcare industry. The decline in OPD hospital visits directly influences diagnostic volumes in the B2C segment, and additionally, the slower IPD business outsourced by hospitals to larger chains like us affects the B2B segment. Despite a softer quarter for the overall healthcare industry, our volumes at Metropolis have increased faster than the market on a year-on-year basis, indicating growth and increase of our market share across segments. On the competition front, we have been hearing of expansion of labs by new age and new healthcare competitors in terms of geographical reach. But it's important to emphasize that these players seem to be primarily focusing on low-priced B2B business via this network expansion. This particular segment is characterized as being non-sticky with poor unit economics. We had previously highlighted competitive intensity prevailing in the semi-specialized B2B business, which contributes only a single-digit revenue to our overall revenues. However, over the last quarter, in this segment also, we have observed positive trends in the revenue per patient, indicating an improvement in our B2B pricing with increasing volumes. In Q3 FY 2024, our overall B2B business grew by 7%, with a volume increase of 5% and an RPP growth of 2%. For the nine months ending FY 2024, RPP growth also stood at 2%, reflecting a positive shift in the environment. This indicates that the competitive intensity in the semi-specialized segment of B2B is diminishing, emphasizing a preference for quality over price or discount. Also, the growth rates of app downloads and usage for emerging health tech players have been slowing down, suggesting challenges in acquiring new customers in the B2C segment. It appears that aggressive pricing strategies and convenience have been the primary competitive edge of these firms, which was valuable to build the wellness segment during COVID, but in the post-COVID era, where illness testing is back in focus, the dynamics have changed. As Metropolis undergoes transformation in digital technology and customer convenience, we are well positioned to capture higher volumes through online channels. Additionally, our aggressive plans for lab and center expansion further strengthen our position in the big brick-and-mortar route. I would like to share some color on the recent news articles and one-time provision done for receivables from the Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinic project, which we had received a work order for in February 2023. Let me highlight the following: The company has followed all due procedures and guidelines as per the contract, and all samples that were handed over to us have been duly tested and reported. Billing for testing has been strictly done based on the sample received, test performed, and reported. Interacting with patients, collecting their sample, collecting their data, and registering in the system was the primary responsibility of Mohalla Clinics as per the contract. Our role was only to pick up the sample after collection done by Mohalla Clinic, and then to do the testing and generate and submit reports back to the Mohalla Clinics. Due to multiple payment delays, this was not a viable contract for us, and we had sent multiple notices for recovery of payments. The company also sent a notice on nineteenth December 2023 to the government authorities for discontinuation of the contract. Although we would like to exit this contract, we may have to continue to provide services if the government insists. Considering the current circumstances, we believe the best practice would be to provide 100% of the receivables of the Mohalla Clinic project from February 2023 to December 2023, as we have limited influence on the future direction of this project. This one-time provisioning has an overall impact of 0.8% on EBITDA for Q3 FY 2024. The company is fully cooperating with any relevant authorities and providing all information proactively, as they investigate the matter. We filed a statement with SEBI on the above on January 15, 2024, and you can access that document for any more information. Going forward, with the brand strength of Metropolis, the trusted partners for doctors and consumers, coupled with aggressive expansion plans and foray into adjacencies with opportunities for inorganic growth, we are optimistic of outnumbering in the industry growth in terms of revenue growth and profitability. We feel optimistic about core revenue growth and margin expansion in Q4. As usual, it's the best quarter of the year for the industry. Q4 will be the first quarter where reported revenue and EBITDA growth will be similar to core revenue growth and EBITDA growth because our NACO contract had gotten completed in the last year by February 2023, and therefore, the base year will now only have one month of NACO revenue in Q4, compared to the first three quarters of FY 2023-24, where NACO revenue was a continuous part of it, making reported revenue and profits look subdued, even though the core business is growing very well. With this, I'd like to hand over to Surendran for our update on the quarter gone by, along with our execution plans going forward. Over to you, Surendran. Thank you, Ameera. Let me give you the three highlights of this gone quarter. In quarter three 2024, our core revenue demonstrated a robust year-on-year growth of 12.3%, driven by a patient volume increase of approximately 9%. The remaining 3% of the growth can be attributed to changes in product mix. Notably, our test volume expanded by around 11% compared to the same period last year, consistently surpassing industry growth figures over several quarters. Please note, Metropolis counts one package or panel as one test, and therefore, our individual test volume would be much higher. We would like to highlight that we have taken a price increase on our B2C segment on a pan-India basis, effective January 1, 2024. The impact of which will be seen in this quarter and also full year 2025, with increased revenues and margins. We estimate the benefit of this to be approximately 3% of the revenue. We're also planning to take a price increase in our B2B segment, specifically for the specialized and super specialized tests in quarter 1, 2025, which will further boost revenues and margin profile. Specifically focusing on our B2C segment, we achieved a substantial year-on-year growth of approximately 15% in quarter 3. This impressive performance is underlined by a patient volume growth of 13%, a testament to the strong brand recognition we enjoy among both the medical community and consumers alike. This takes our B2C contribution to 53% of total revenues, gradually working towards our target of 60%-65% contribution. Having started this journey from 35% B2C contribution a few years ago, we have made a great stride, and I'm confident of reaching our 60%-65% contribution target in few years. In quarter three 2024, revenues from Mumbai market experienced a notable growth of 18%, surpassing the company's average growth rate. This highlights our enhanced market share in Mumbai region. Even in the face of the entry of new players and the perceived intense competition in the Mumbai market, we have achieved substantial growth and expansion of our market presence in this region without using any tactics that would dilute the brand or the pricing metrics. Our emphasis on the premium wellness portfolio, featuring carefully curated packages tailored to different genders, age groups, and wellness profiles, has yielded positive results.... Through a combination of upselling initiatives and targeted strategies to enhance the wellness portfolio, we achieved a substantial 15% year-on-year revenue growth in the premium wellness segment for the quarter four, quarter three. This growth is slightly subdued compared to the previous quarters due to festivals and consumer focus being on other kinds of consumption. We believe quarter four to be showing a higher growth for wellness, like the first two quarters of this year. In quarter three, our revenue from specialized testing experienced a noteworthy 13% year-on-year growth, accompanied by a robust 11% increase in test volumes. Over the years, we have consistently witnessed a steady rise in volumes for specialized testing. This can be attributed to the introduction of new tests and technologies, coupled with growing trust among doctors and specialists in Metropolis for our capabilities in specialty testing. This trust has positioned us as a preferred choice for diagnostic partner in specialty testing within the industry. We hope quarter four to be the quarter where specialized revenues to grow even faster as a result of all the inputs and rigor put into this area in the last six months. Speaking of network expansion, we remain steadfast in our commitment to expansion, with plans to add 30 labs in the current financial year, of which we've already added 17 labs so far, and additional 30 labs in the next financial year. Complementing these lab additions, we are also expanding our network of collection centers, creating a robust system which will feed these labs to generate higher volumes, and thereby adding to the overall revenue growth going forward. While the ongoing network expansion may have temporary impact on our EBITDA margins, we view this expansion as a significant opportunity for the future. It serves as a strategic move to reinforce our presence in core geographies and explore untapped markets with limited diagnostic players and facilities. We anticipate that the combination of enhanced productivity from the new network, increased utilization of labs, and higher operating leverage, coupled with organic growth, will contribute to an improvement in margins from the current levels in the future. Since April 2022, we have successfully added 31 labs, with 21 labs strategically located in new geographies, significantly enhancing our national reach. We take absolute pride in announcing that Metropolis has crossed 4,000 collection center mark in this quarter. We have added 1,000 collection centers since April 2022, with plans to add another 1,000 over the next 12-18 months. A noteworthy achievement is our expanded presence from 307 towns in the beginning of the year to 595 towns within the last nine months. We aim to further extend our reach to a total of 700 towns by the end of this financial year, solidifying our footprint across diverse regions. Labs opened after April 2020-2022 have contributed 3% of the revenues in this quarter. Given the growth rate of these recently established labs, we anticipate a more substantial contribution from them in the upcoming years. Furthermore, the labs initiated in the current financial year are expected to further augment revenues and volumes in the future. In parallel, our strategic focus extends beyond expanding the network. We have also been dedicated to enhancing the productivity of existing centers. The results in the past nine months have been positive, showcasing the untapped potential for growth. We believe that this emphasis on improving the overall productivity of existing centers will significantly contribute to revenue and margin growth in the times ahead. We've also been vocal about our technological upgradation and transformation over the last few quarters. Would like to share a few highlights on the same. The current quarter gone by, we have rolled out the second generation point-of-sale platform, RNI 2.0. That is a registration invoicing platform developed on a highly agile Mendix platform, Salesforce CRM, with fully customized customizable CPQ to manage dynamic pricing engine, and Community Cloud for clients for better lifecycle management of partner communities. Rolled out Salesforce Service CRM at all its touchpoints to capture customer interaction effectively. First-ever Salesforce customer data platform in Indian healthcare landscape, enabling 360-degree view of its consumers and automated CLM through the Salesforce Marketing Cloud. All these initiatives have led to capabilities building for future, like 360-degree customer view, personalization for consumers, efficient patient service, relationship management, efficient registration, billing and pricing, improved financial management, and increased re-reported and analytics for report and analytics for the future references. Half of the projects we have worked on are now live across the company, and quarter four will see a few more go live, improving ease of doing business with Metropolis. We will continue on this transformation journey next year, too. In summary, I would like to highlight that with accelerating our key growth drivers, such as expanding our network, emphasizing the specialty and wellness segments, and implementing technical transformation, is propelling us swiftly towards our growth objectives. With this, now I hand over the call to Rakesh to take you through the financial highlights and the numbers. Thank you, Surend. Let me share some of the key financial performance for the quarter. Our reported revenue for Q3 financial year 2024 has grown by 2% on a year-on-year basis. Reported growth for Q3 was largely impacted on account of insourcing of large B2G contract in quarter four, financial year 2023. Core revenue, as we know, is much higher. Our core business revenue grew by 12% for Q3 2024, with patient volume growth of 9% and balance 3% on account of product mix.... Our core revenue, revenue for nine months, financial 2024, grew by 13% year-on-year. Reported EBITDA margins stood at 22.5% as compared to 25.5% in Q3, financial 2023. While we all expected some margin compression due to intensity in lab expansion and negative operating leverage because of loss of PPP contracts, the additional dilution has come due to one-time impact on account of provision for doubtful debt taken on account of Mohalla Clinic contracts. These three elements impacted margin by around 3%. One-time impact in provision for doubtful debt on account of Mohalla Clinic contracts has been taken, which impacted EBITDA by 0.8%. We have provided 100% dues from Mohalla Clinic from May to December 2023. Excluding this one-time exception, our reported margin stood at 23.3%. Q3, as we know, is always about 2% lower than Q2, so this is not unnatural considering the seasonality of the business. Reported PAT margin stood at 9.4% as compared to 12.6% in Q3, financial 2023. Compared to last year, the PAT margin was mainly impacted because of the lower EBITDA margin due to the above mentioned reason, and also because of capitalization of IT transformation project, which got completed in Q3 2023. Moving on the balance sheet, gross debt stood at INR 12.7 crore, and cash and cash equivalents stood at INR 89 crore as on 31st December 2023. We are in line to close the financial year with 0 debt. O2C to EBITDA for December 2023 stood at 94%. Working capital stood at 17 days as on 31st December 2023, compared to 14 days in March 2023. Between this period, debtor has gone up by one day, inventory has improved by four days, and credit has gone down by seven days. We are hopeful that by March end, numbers will look better than last year. That's all from my side. With this, I open the floor for quick question and answer. Thank you. Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handset while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Rahul Agarwal from InCred- InCred Equities. Please go ahead. Hi, good morning, and thank you so much for the opportunity. Two questions: firstly, on the price hike, you said B2C national price hike. Just wanted to understand that the entire Metropolis for B2C works on a single price point nationally? That's one. And second is, could you give a bit more color on, you know, when we talk about price hike, does it mean on the overall menu, or is it still talking about only, you know, certain tests? You know, that's my first question. All right. Thanks, Rahul, and, let me answer this. See, the price hike across the country, we were not at the same price point. We were at different price points for even the same test. So but, the increment that we have taken across the country is largely the same, you know, across price point. Maybe a little bit of plus minus on some of the markets which we thought, you know, we would do differently, but otherwise, largely on the similar lines. And, the second question was about? Can you just repeat the second question, Rahul? I mean, the price hike, I already answered. Yes. What I was asking was, is it like across the entire test menu, or is it very specific? Largely across the board, I mean, we would have made some exclusions, you know, based on some competitiveness in the marketplace, but it's largely large part of the portfolio, we have done a price revision. You said 3% impact of the same, which basically means it enhances the RPP by 3%. Is that understanding correct? Roughly, yes. Yeah. Okay, perfect. Secondly, on the growth rates, you know, this question both to you and Ameera. We've been discussing this on the call, you know, every quarter. Just wanted to get a sense again, you know, when I look at a longer-term picture, it still looks like we are still lower than double digits. You know, for the industry, it's not only Metropolis. My sense is, you know, growth rates pre-COVID versus post-COVID has actually declined. Versus, you know, our understanding was we were expecting healthcare actually to go up post-COVID. Any analysis on this? And obviously you've mentioned that, you know, 10%-11% is where Metropolis TAM should grow, and that is what you will achieve, which you have in the industry. But just some more sense on the underlying demand trend will be helpful. So as we mentioned, Rahul, that the industry growth, you know, is about 8%-10% overall, and our addressable market, we believe the growth is about 10%-11%, because we are focusing more on the head of the market, as we had described a few quarters ago. Metropolis has been consistently outpacing the market growth, and currently, as you see, our nine-month number is at 13%. I think your question around, you know, is the growth lower than pre-COVID, et cetera? I think the growth is similar. It's not very different. If you see, actually, I mean, at least for Metropolis, I mean, I, I can't comment on other peers. But, at least for Metropolis, if you see last, in 2022, 2023, I think our growth was approximately 15%. And by the end of this year, we should be, not, maybe not at 15, but closer to 15, again, as well. So I think, we are not going to be very different from where we were in 2022, 2023. And if you look at our CAGR from FY, you know, 2017 to FY 2019, which was the pre-COVID period, Metropolis grew at approximately 16% CAGR in that period. But that was also including the government contracts that we had signed. So overall, I would say that the growth is not significantly different. It's very similar. But obviously, it depends on each company's execution, rigor, and the ability to embrace the post-COVID area, era, and making whatever decisions need to be made, you know, to be able to utilize that opportunity. Yeah. If I can just add one more point, Rahul. Ameera mentioned this in her speech, that on the denominator, the NACO contract was sitting till January last year. So in this quarter, you will see that our, you know, overall growth will be largely equal to the core revenue growth. And we'll also get a upside from the price increase that we have done, which is, you know, so far has gone very smoothly. So I think these two elements, we'll see a much different picture by the end of the quarter. So essentially, if we talk about next three years, we should focus on largely the band of 11%-13% top line. Is that fair value-wise? Yeah, I, I think, difficult for me to tell you a projection for the model, but I think like we said, by the end of this year, we should be closing, you know, around 14%-15% for this financial year. After that, I'll leave it to you to see where you want to put it in your model, but, I think we feel reasonably comfortable with these numbers. Get it. Two smaller clarifications. For the provisions, I think the provision for the quarter for the Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinic was about INR 4 crore, and it was about INR 3 crore odd last quarter, so overall, INR 7.5 crore. When you said 0.8% of impact, I couldn't really figure out, because INR 4 crore is 1.5% of EBITDA. Is that correct? Rahul, Rakesh here. The total Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinic provision we have taken is INR 2.2 crore, and that becomes 0.8% for the quarter. What you are referring to last quarter, INR 3.4 crore, which we have taken, was basically on the whistleblower case. There was a whistleblower complaint which came, and we clarified last quarter as well, that on the basis of that complaint, we have investigated, and then found that there are some discrepancy in taking the, you know, in having the accounting process. There was nothing financial irregularity. There was accounting process, because of which we have taken a one-time provision of INR 3.4 crore last quarter. This quarter it is INR 2.2 crore on account of Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinic, and we have provided 100% of it. The total revenue for the Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinic project from February to December was INR 3 point- INR 3.68 crores. INR 3.68 crore, of which we have received approximately- INR 1.3 crore. 1.3, and the balance, we have just taken a very conservative stand of providing for the 100% of the due receivables, because, you know, very difficult for us, obviously, to know which direction this is going in. No, the numbers are pretty small, but the press release talked about the notes to accounts, and the results said INR 4 crore provision. So I don't know what I'm going wrong. But anyway, I'll take it offline. And just one more clarification on B2C and B2B slides. You know, others is about 12%. What does this others depict? Is this international plus what else? These are three or four accounts. One is international, one is institutional HLMs, and clinical trial. Oh, okay. Okay, great. I'll come back in the queue. Thank you so much for answering my questions. All the best. Thank you. A reminder to all participants, you may press star and one to ask questions. Next question is from the line of Shyam Srinivasan from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. Just the first one, just dwelling into that 3% contribution from revenue for labs started after, I think, April 2022. So, just wanna just expand a little bit more, if you could also think about the, or disaggregate as the volume growth, the 9% core business patient volume. Is there a way to do, look at it from a same store versus new store in the format that you mentioned, the revenues? And, you know, just want to understand, you know, like Ameera, I think, is at the start said, we are growing faster than some of our peers, from a volume perspective. So is the building blocks coming from same store where you're doing better or new store addition is helping as well? Srinivasan, I think we will come back on the specific math on same-store growth and the new stores, but I can only tell you that, you know, same-store growths are in double-digit numbers, you know, at this point of time. Okay. But the exact numbers on split between the two, we have not put it together. We'll come back to you. Sorry, double digit for the same store would mean... We should have more than 9%, right? Am I missing something? Revenue growth year-on-year basis for the same store. Actually, you're saying revenue growth. Revenue growth is double-digit, you say? Uh- Yeah, yeah. I was more referring to volume growth, so that's where I was coming from. Yeah, volume, that's what I said. The volume split, we'll have to come back to you. I think we'll close to this. Understood. Understood. Thank you. Just second question is on the premium wellness, right? I think it's now 14, 15% of sales, 15% of sales. Growing well. So, again, if you could... Again, I think volumes have been also pretty reasonable, right? 11% volume growth. So what's working for us here? This used to be a fairly competitive space, you know, in the past. Is it just the health tech going away? You know, anything on the competitive dynamics will be helpful. Well, I think, you know, we continue to do what we do. Like we said, you know, like, our wellness revenues are largely driven by through our centers and through the digital, right? We continue to put focus on these two engines, and in fact, in the last quarter, end of last quarter, we revamped all our wellness packages.... you know, and created a much diverse portfolio and specific to gender, specific to illness, et cetera. So, I mean, now we are seeing- and also we have revised the prices of all our wellness packages as well, you know, at the end of the last quarter. So we are clearly seeing, you know, much better traction, you know, with all the revamped portfolios, you know, from the beginning of this quarter. We are looking forward to see the wellness revenues growing at the same pace that we have done in the first and second quarter, or maybe better. Does that answer your question? Yeah, yeah, sure. That's, that's helpful, yeah. I mean, just my last question is on the margin trajectory. So by fiscal 2025, you know, is there any outlook in terms of the dilution coming from the investments that you're doing on either, say, if... And if you could give us some outlook around how margins should kind of trend up now, Q4, I think you mentioned briefly, but I'm more looking at from a fiscal 2025 perspective. So, I think one thing for sure is that whatever price increase we have taken, as we mentioned, 3%, that, you know, should come down to a large extent in the bottom line. Mm-hmm. Because we'll have very little, you know, cost towards it. And definitely, you know, the quarter four being a good quarter for us, in the overall scheme of things, so it should, the revenue should also look up from a quarter three point of view. So overall, I think we'll, we'll see a good jump in the, margin in quarter four, and it should be, you know, more or less in line with what we have done in pre-COVID era. So that's, that's how I just want to nutshell we can give it. And next year, obviously, we will work out the strategy, and maybe we'll talk about it more when we discuss the next quarter results. Just to talk about a little bit more forward-looking, you know, on FY 25 margins. See, there are three things which are impacting the margins currently, right? Mm-hmm. One thing is obviously that, like, the lab expansion, and that dilution will continue till FY 25. Because like we said, we are adding labs this year, and we are also going to add 30 labs next year. So that dilution will continue even in FY 24, 25. Post FY 25, we expect that dilution to reduce. The second thing, obviously, is obviously the one-time things which are hitting the bottom line today in the last quarter and this quarter, obviously, hopefully does not play out in the future. The third thing is obviously whatever benefit we get from operating leverage, which comes from two areas. One is as our B2C contribution increases and as our specialty contribution increases and wellness contribution increases. If these three areas keep increasing as we are expecting it to, then we should see some operating leverage getting created at the EBITDA level, which will certainly help the company. And obviously, like Rakesh mentioned, the price increase. So I think Q4, it would be fair to expect the pricing benefit to come into the bottom line. And then obviously from... That will continue next year. And then as we keep growing next year, we should hopefully continue to see some expansion. But I think overall, like Rakesh mentioned, the pre-COVID margin, which was usually between 26%-27%, we think would be a fair number that would be okay till FY 2025. Understood. Thank you, and all the best. Thank you. A reminder to all participants, you may press star and one to ask questions. Next question is from the line of Abdulkader Puranwala from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead. Yeah, hi, and thank you for the opportunity. Just two questions from my end. So firstly, on the Mohalla Clinic, so what is the balance contractual amount or, you know, the obligation would we have for the next few quarters coming up? Currently, like we said, we have given a notice to the government, but if the government insists on us continuing to provide services, till they can find a replacement, then we would obviously continue to support them in the public interest. And till that time, our plan is to keep providing for 100% of whatever revenues we book, per quarter, within the quarter itself. So from quarter four also onwards, if there is any, you know, whatever revenues we do, will be provided for within the quarter itself. Okay. I think we'll... Revenue will be in the range of around INR 75 lakh-INR 1 crore in a quarter. Okay. Okay, and, I mean, what is the contractual duration? Is it, one year or more than that? The contractual duration is longer, but like we said, that, you know, the idea is that as soon as they would be in a position to replace us with another service provider. Okay, sure. Got it. And, secondly, on this network expansion, so if I look at your PPT, where you mentioned the nine-month impact, and on the labs, what you added in the last, say, 24-36 months, you know, last quarter, if you see the presentation, let's say, is that it was at par with what the company level is. This quarter again, you know, there has been a sizable dip. So just wanted to understand in terms of, you know, the new labs, what you are adding, you know, how soon you think this can reach to, you know, where your company-level margins are? Will it be like three years, four years, or, you know, the gestation can be a little higher than that? Basically, what happens is that it depends upon the geography in which we, you know, open the lab. So we have seen that in the geography, which are core geography, we open lab and generally in 2.5 years, two-2.5 years, we are back to the normal company margin. But, but, but our intent is to also to expand in the new geography, where we are not very competitive. So there it takes around three-four years to come back to the normal EBITDA margin level. So overall, I think from an average point of view, it should be three years to expect... that we should come three-3.5 years, we should come back to the normal margins. That is what we are seeing. From a contrast point of view, last quarter, last year, we had not expanded our labs to that extent. We have only opened fewer labs, and this year we have intensity is bit higher. So therefore, you are seeing a 0.4% dilution from last year to this year, if we look at the ex-network expansion dilution of margins. So last year it was 0.8%, and this year, with the 17-18 labs coming in the first nine months, we are seeing this dilution going to one point. That's, if that answers your question. Okay. Thank you, and wish you all the best. Thank you. A reminder to all participants, you may press Star and One to ask questions. Next question is from the line of Prashant Nair from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead. Yeah, good morning. Just one question on your lab addition targets. So once you're done with the current, you know, target up to fiscal 2025, how should we think about this on an ongoing basis? I mean, would you be adding labs in kind of steps, or would there be a consistent increase beyond fiscal 2025 that we have to look at? All right. So, we have already mentioned that, you know, we are on a course of adding 30 labs this year, of which 17's already been done, and the remaining is work in progress, you know, in this quarter. And we also projected a similar number for the next year based on the opportunity markets and the new markets that we want to get in. I think that planning is already also happening. And post that, I think, you know, the lab additions will slow down and may not be at the levels of, you know, 30 labs, 20 labs in a year, but on need based, and as and when we get an opportunity to put up a lab in an existing market to improve the penetration or a very good new market, we will, I mean, keep exploring those. But the numbers will be, you know, very less. You know, will not be to the tune of 20 or 30 labs per annum, but maybe purely on need based and much smaller in number. So just to add to that, in FY, if you look at FY 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, we added approximately 4-5 labs a year, just in comparison to the 30 labs that we are adding now. So the idea post FY 2025, as Sunil said, will be to slow down the lab expansion closer to where we were earlier, but then to really ramp up the collection center expansion to feed the labs, which obviously is not capital intensive, will be done through a combination of franchise and our own center route, mostly through franchise. And therefore, post FY 2025, we expect the collection center ramp up to be significantly higher. Great, thanks. Just one more question. This is on your tax rate. I mean, where should we assume it's settling down, this year and then on an ongoing basis? I really couldn't hear you. Could you repeat that? Yeah, just a question on your effective tax rate. Where should it settle down this year and in future? I'm not very clear, but you are asking for a tax rate. I think tax rate, we are not seeing any difference happening as of now. This budget also, the tax rate remains same. And going forward, we are not having any prediction of, you know, it's changing really drastically, either positive side or negative side. So as of now, the next three years it will build up more or less in the same range, what we are doing right now. Okay, thanks a lot. Yeah, that was my question. Thanks a lot. Hello? Riya, we can move on to the next question, please. Hello, we are not able to hear anything here. Riya, Bhavesh here. Can we take the next question, please? Please go ahead. I think, you know, we can't hear Riya's voice here, so maybe we can straightaway ask the question. Right? Mm. Hello. I'm sorry for the delay. The next question is from the line of Rahul Agarwal from InCred Equities. Please go ahead. Thank you, so much for the follow-ups. One question, you know, I had on the north and eastern markets. You know, south and west obviously are, you know, bulk of our business. Any thoughts in terms of, you know, the network expansion happening right now over the last nine months and ahead? How are we looking at growth rates here? It looks like, these markets are not really picking up for us. Is that right understanding? And, you know, what's the way ahead here? No, in fact, you know, we have done... We are putting a lot of efforts in the north and east markets, you know. I mean, I think we also talked about last time, picking up UP, MP, Assam and APTS, our new markets for expansion, and we are on our course, you know. And the labs that we are putting up in north and east are doing reasonably well as per the plans that we have for these labs in the first year, second year, et cetera. So our, you know, efforts and our focus on, north and east continues, and, you know, we are in line with our, our plans and projections, Ajit. So in terms of the current network, you know, how are we... You know, what's the mix like between, let's say, south and west and north and east, in terms of labs or collection centers, either way? How's that set up and should that change in favor of north and east going forward? ... I can tell you of the new network coming in, new centers and the new labs coming in, you know, more than, let's say, almost half of them, or little more than half of them are going towards north and east markets, you know. And on the centers, maybe 60% of the centers are coming up in north and east, new—because we have seen that we increase the number of towns that we operate from 307 to 595, and you know, a good chunk of this has come from the north and east markets, right? So there is definitely a slightly disproportionate focus on increasing the footprint in north and east. You know, of the total labs, how many of them are in North and East or South and West? I think, I have to get to do that math and come back to you. Sure. Understand. Secondly, any updates on Hitech or the international business? Any point you would like to talk about and highlight? We talked about Hitech last quarter as well. You know, Hitech is largely on course and in line with the company levels of revenue. On a YTD basis, Hitech revenue growth is at about 13%-14%, and the margins are, you know, higher than the company margins and on course. So Hitech is, I mean, I told you last time also, we have completed the integrations, and in the last quarter, all 100% integration in terms of IT, people, resourcing, labs, everything has been done. Now, Hitech is on its, you know, growth journey now, as we speak. International business again is, you know, doing well, and, you know, we are seeing much higher levels of growth than one year and on other company level. Hence, we are also now putting our focus on expanding some of the centers and getting a little bit more on the B2B, you know, business on the international market. So both continue to be our, you know, focus areas and doing fine as we speak. Q3 obviously had some impact in Hitech, because of Chennai floods, as it did for Metropolis as well. So that growth would have been a little bit higher in Q3, if obviously not for that disruption. Yeah. Otherwise, things are on track. Yeah. Got it. The plan of this lab and center addition, does that include the international expansion or is it only domestic? Yeah. This year we have been really focused on expanding the labs and centers in international market. Now, looking at the response that we are getting from the international market, you know, we will have few at least center expansion definitely on the plan for the next year. Labs, we are exploring multiple option, whether we do the direct model or we do through a franchisee model. So we are exploring multiple options and, you know, so that's what the status for the plan for the next year in international. Got it. And just one last question from my side. In terms of, you know, the revenue mix between what you get from metros and, you know, cities which are smaller and towns which are smaller, obviously, we all know Mumbai, Chennai, a very large contribution to Metropolis top lines. Incrementally, tier two, tier three, tier four, are these markets, you know, in a manner where you see, you know, what are growth we're talking about? The base is smaller there. Obviously, the percentage numbers will look higher, but incrementally, the reception to, you know, bigger brands, doctor influence there in smaller towns, are they playing in our favor? The realization might drop, because we're expanding there, but just your sense on how will tier two, tier three, tier four play out for the entire industry and Metropolis will be really helpful? Thank you. I'll tell you, I'll tell you what we have shared with you all in the investor deck. I think, you know, for the quarter three, of the 12% split, I can tell you, 8% has come from the focus cities, which you know, that in the tier one cities for us. You know, 7% growth has happened in the seeding cities, which is largely the tier two type of cities. 28% has come from the new markets that we have got into, right? So I think that's largely on the tier three and, you know, little bit of tier two, tier three, and you know, even smaller cities. So the response from the tier three and smaller cities are really good for us. You know, that encourages us to take the journey forward. Also, just as a entry point, usually when you enter a tier two or a tier three market, you enter usually with, you know, a franchise center. You build up a small base, a collection center, and then, of course, when you open your own greenfield lab there, initially, while you may land up picking up more of semi-specialized testing and B2B, through the B2B channel, the final goal obviously is, like you said, to get to the top specialists of the cities, or the top hospitals of the city, and be able to get more specialized work. So there should not be a dilution of RPP, if this plan plays out the way we want it to. And, we are definitely seeing that happening. So in core markets of south and west, this obviously happens faster. In challenger markets of North and East, this takes a little bit more time, but the goal and the destination is the same. Got it. Perfect. Thank you so much for answering my questions. Best wishes. Thank you. A reminder to all participants, you may press Star and One to ask questions. Next question is from the line of Bhavesh Gandhi from Yes Securities. Please go ahead. Yeah, hi. Thank you. Just two questions. First, on wellness. So if I look at nine-month growth, it's around 22% for premium wellness, and the quarter growth is around 15%. So any color on is the growth kind of slower for this quarter? And then how should we look at Q4 and the next year from a premium wellness perspective? ... Yeah. Well, it's time to ask you this question. So, like I mentioned, you know, quarter three normally is not a wellness quarter because it's all, you know, festivities, et cetera. People have not focused on the, you know, wellness. But having said that, I think a lot of our team was very busy on, you know, transitioning into the new registration and the billing system. Like I mentioned, you know, because at the end of the day, the wellness has been largely driven by our touchpoints, you know, and we were doing this transition into the new registration system. So it has consumed a lot of energy and, you know, they were just trying to stabilize this without any, you know, difficulty or any disruption in the consumer services. So a little bit of less of time being spent on that. And also, I mentioned that, you know, in December, we have gone through a full-fledged, you know, ramp up, or, you know, revamp of the wellness packages. So when we do a, you know, full change of packages, it goes through a lot of training, a lot of understanding of the new packages, why we have done that, and also answering to the consumers about the changes, et cetera. So it took a little bit time for us to establish the new revamped wellness packages. And largely because of these two, three reasons, you know, you are seeing a little bit of slowdown in the quarter three, but I think we are back in quarter four. I mean, I think YTD, we are doing 20%-23%, if I'm right, and I think, you know, first two quarters were better. So in this quarter, we are seeing the similar levels of growth that we have seen in quarter one and quarter two. And with the price corrections, we are doing a little more than that, you know. So I think wellness, you know, is back and better. Okay, thanks for that. My second question is on, in your opening commentary, you have mentioned about upcoming price hikes in specialized and super specialized tests, in the Q1 FY25 quarter. So, what is the potential quantum here, and what makes you confident the price hikes will be digested in this segment of the test menu? So, I mean, B2C, we have already done, including the specialized and semi-specialized, everything. B2C, we already done from first of January, right? What I mentioned in the comment is, like B2B, you know, specialized and semi-specialized will be done in the next quarter. So that could be maybe another 1% near the company revenue, if I, if we do all that we want to do. And we really don't find any big challenge in implementing it because it has been done through a lot of planning, a lot of discussion with the B2B clients, and considering all the sentiments and all the feedback from the partners as well. So I think we should be able to sail through seamlessly, you know, once we implement this, you know. So, we should be able to do this, you know, latest by the early next quarter. Okay. Okay. Thank you. That's it from my side. Thanks. Thank you. Next question is from the line of Aashita Jain from the Nuvama. Please go ahead. Hi, good morning. Am I audible? Yes. Yeah. Hi. Hello, sir. So just one quick question, like one clarification I wanted on this PDD that you've created. So what was the amount for this quarter, and what was the amount for—what is the amount for the nine months? If you can clarify. You're talking about the one-time PDD that we have created or the total PDD? What is the total PDD that you have created for this quarter? So, yeah, overall PDD, which we have created, is approximately INR 4 crore. And out of that, INR 2.2 crore is on one-time impact of Aam Aadmi, and INR 1.8 crore is generally the ECL provisioning. As per the provisioning policy, we take every quarter. So that's something, which is, which is a normal in the normal course of business. So the normal course of business, something we have taken, and, INR 2.2 crore is taken on one time, Aam Aadmi wala clinic provision. Understood. That helps. Thank you. That's all. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question of the day. I now hand the conference over to Miss Ameera Shah for closing comments. Thank you all for joining us today on our Q3 quarterly call. As mentioned, I hope we've been able to clarify all the questions and, you know, any doubts that were there. We feel extremely positive about where the industry is headed and especially about where Metropolis's progress is tracking. We continue to obviously focus on our execution rigor, our technology transformation, our geographical expansion, good leading management team, and really making sure that, you know, we bring that additional zing to sort of the execution that we are doing. You know, as we are moving into smaller markets, as we are moving into... Deeper into our existing cities, the focus remains the same, which is to increase our B2C contribution, to only make sure that we are looking at getting business from the top doctors across the country who really value quality, and our kind of reporting and personalized service that we give them. But at the same time, for all customers, to be able to really continue to strengthen the customer journey, whether they are a partner or franchise partner, whether they are a B2B customer or a B2C customer, and all the different inputs that go into making life easy for customers to work with Metropolis. We believe that with that goal in mind and with the very strong expertise and science that we have at the back end, that is a winning combination in the industry that will allow us to continue to outperform, as we have been doing. Look forward to chatting with all of you at the end of Q4, and have a wonderful day. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. On behalf of Yes Securities, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.