Pallavi Jain,
Managing Director,
Krsnaa Diagnostics Limited

WGF Healthcare Forum

WGF Global Entrepreneur of the Year

Give Your 100% to Achieve Your Dreams

By Pallavi Jain

Managing Director,
Krsnaa Diagnostics Limited

WGF brings to its readers an exclusive interview with Pallavi Jain.

She is the Managing Director of Krsnaa Diagnostics Limited.

Pallavi Jain is the WGF Global Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 from India.

WGF: You are the Managing Director of Asia’s fastest-growing healthcare company, Krsnaa Diagnostics Ltd. Your vision, dedication and tireless efforts have resulted in tremendous growth of Krsnaa Diagnostics: from 2 to 2,000+ centres in 15 States of India in just 11 years. When you look back, how do you feel? Please share your journey from 2 to 2,000+ centres in your own words.

Pallavi Jain: When I look back and when I look at where I stand, I feel proud, honoured, privileged, accomplished and yet feel there is a lot more to achieve. The kind of work that we do at Krsnaa Diagnostics gives me internal satisfaction. I had started very naïve at Krsnaa Diagnostics and had no experience of working in the healthcare sector. I hold a Bachelors’ degree in Home Science, and Medical diagnostics was never my field. I was always into Marketing and Business Development, since the beginning of my career. Thanks to Hon. Chairman Mr Rajendra Mutha, I got an equal opportunity to ideate, explore and execute my ideas with strong conviction.

Today, the organization has grown from 2 to 2,000+ centres in 15 states and three Union Territories of India, and I’m proud to say that this is due to the sleepless efforts put in by my team.

So, for me, the journey has been quite fruitful, honouring and a satisfactory one, and I’m really grateful to the team that works with me with so much dedication and motivation.

WGF: Women in the healthcare industry generally tend to choose the profession of medical doctors. A few pioneers such as you have blazed the trail, inspiring countless others to believe that desire, determination and a strong belief in destiny can bring substantial success in any field. How did you decide that Diagnostics industry is your destiny?

Pallavi Jain: I strongly feel that when women leaders get the much-required support, motivation and vision, they can move mountains. The same theory applies to my success journey. I am strongly intrigued and inspired by Hon. Chairman, Mr Rajendra Mutha and his vision for creating a patient-centric organization. True and great leaders always chase a vision that is greater than themselves.

Mr Mutha was always clear and was always keen to leverage advanced technology for improving the healthcare outcomes. The tele-radiology service of Krsnaa Diagnostics was the vision of Mr Mutha, and today this service is widely used by experts to share accurate diagnosis even for patients from remotest parts of the country.

His vision also resonates with my passion of enabling patients and improving access to healthcare for every patient at the last mile. I always give my best and try to work keeping his vision in mind of creating a patient-centric organization. Also, as I mentioned before, the work gives me internal satisfaction, which clearly reflects in the hard work.

I am strongly intrigued and inspired by Hon. Chairman, Mr Rajendra Mutha and his vision for creating a patient-centric organization. True and great leaders always chase a vision that is greater than themselves.

Mr Mutha was always clear and was always keen to leverage advanced technology for improving the healthcare outcomes. The tele-radiology service of Krsnaa Diagnostics was the vision of Mr Mutha, and today this service is widely used by experts to share accurate diagnosis even for patients from remotest parts of the country.

WGF: How do you see the future of Diagnostics industry – in India and at the global level? What reforms do you think would help the Diagnostics industry improve and perform better?

Pallavi Jain: The Indian medical diagnostics sector is predicted to increase at a rate of roughly 14%, and will touch $20 billion by 2026, as per Praxis Worldwide Alliance research report. With over 100,000 labs, the diagnostics sector has a significant degree of fragmentation. This fragmentation puts labs’ capabilities, scalability and quality at risk. On the other side, it gives a chance to consolidate innovative company models in order for them to evolve.

As the diagnostics industry expands, businesses will require to have a strong omnichannel approach. They will have to expand their capacities and provide additional value-added services. With increased competition and testing becoming more commoditized, there is also a need for super-efficient operations that use digitalization technologies such as AI for process efficiency, thereby maintaining a healthy bottom line.

WGF: How do you see the world before and after COVID-19? What has changed – good or bad – generally, and specifically in the healthcare industry?

Pallavi Jain: COVID-19 has further emphasized on the role that diagnostics play in overall healthcare management. Hence, the industry is expected to further grow by leaps and bounds. The pandemic also provided an impetus for the industry to rapidly innovate, in order to face the enormous task of responding to various challenges such as urgent doorstep sample collections, quicker turnaround time, and other issues related to management of large sample size. The industry rose to the occasion and was able to recalibrate its approach to suit the pandemic and post-pandemic world.

Technology deployment, accuracy of the test results and additional services to ensure customer satisfaction have taken centre-stage post Covid-19.

WGF: Krsnaa Diagnostics has grown rapidly as more and more people have shown an infallible trust in its services. Consequent to your insightful leadership, Krsnaa Diagnostics has created an extensive network of integrated diagnostic centres across India, primarily in non-metro and lower-tier cities and towns with best-in-class radiology, tele-radiology, pathology and collection services. How do you see Krsnaa Diagnostics growing further in a decade or two from now?

Pallavi Jain: With the new tenders that we won (Radiology contract in Maharashtra, Delhi and Rajasthan, tele-reporting contract in Tripura), we are diversifying our presence across new geographies, and building a strong foundation for sustainable growth and strong pipeline of services for the future. We will continue to participate in more tenders, and we are confident of exceeding our objective of ensuring healthcare services for all.

Over the next few years, we will also be expanding our pathology business by capitalizing on the extensive infrastructure of existing Pathology. Also, we will be adding more diagnostics centres and collection centres to reach the end customers. Our disruptive pricing model and sustainable business model allows us to enjoy a competitive advantage, and makes us well-positioned to deliver growth. Our target is to achieve 2x growth in Revenues and 3x growth in Profits by end of FY2024, and we are proud to say that the implementation of our projects (pathology and radiology centres) is on track as planned.

Overall, I see Krsnaa Diagnostics augment its growth by pursuing selective acquisitions and strategic alliances that provide the access to technology expertise, specialised services, market share and geographical reach. Krsnaa Diagnostics will continue to leverage its ethos and philosophy of “Let’s Do Good!” even in the coming decades.

WGF: India is rapidly progressing on the wings of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan and Make in India initiative. India is already leading the world in several aspects of healthcare. How do you see the Healthcare and Diagnostics industries contributing to a New India – a self-reliant India in various healthcare services?

Pallavi Jain: Healthcare sector has taken a centre stage, and has gained immense attention in the last two years. This shift of attention to Healthcare infrastructure was witnessed not only in India, but even in Western countries. The world realized that there is a huge gap in terms of healthcare infrastructure, which needs a reallocation. According to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the hospital and diagnostics industry attracted $6.8 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) from April 2000 to June 2020.

Existing hospitals are expanding their services through technological platforms, investing in next-generation diagnostic instruments, forming alliances with insurance companies, and expanding geographically, all with the goal of providing world-class medical care at a reasonable cost. In addition, the industry is drawing new investment from local and foreign investors to support expansions of existing big hospital chains as well as green-field initiatives.

WGF: Women entrepreneurs have to fight double to make their own space, their own destiny, and their own successes. Additionally, everyone has ups and downs in their personal and professional lives. What ordinary or extraordinary did you do to make way for yourself, and then to announce that you have arrived?

Pallavi Jain: Talking about the Healthcare industry, it should be noted that in India and even globally, women form 70% of the total healthcare force. This major chunk of women representation in total healthcare force is an example how the sector has achieved great heights and is considering gender equality as an important area.

When the opportunity came to me of being a part of Krsnaa Diagnostics, I put all my energies into it. The one thing that I always did was believing in myself and trusting the vision of Hon. Chairman, Mr Rajendra Mutha, of providing world-class healthcare infrastructure at affordable prices.

WGF: Given a chance, if you had to change one thing from your past, what would it be? How do you envision your future, and what are your dreams?

Pallavi Jain: I have no regrets and I strongly believe that my journey has been a wonderful one. My biggest dream is to see people accessing healthcare infrastructure at lowest prices or affordable prices without compromising on the quality. Even an individual from the remotest village should be able to get free diagnostics services.

If you give your 100% to your dream, you will surely achieve it. With this clarity, nothing can stop you; no gender bias, societal pressures or operational challenges.

WGF: Success has its own demands. People easily see the success, and easily ignore the hardships that go behind the scenes. What is your mantra for work–life balance? Who all are in your family? Did your family support you to follow your dreams? You have achieved extraordinary entrepreneurial success. Who do you think helped you the most?

Pallavi Jain: Every successful story has hardships. It is said that a career in the medical field is very difficult. It teaches you the most difficult life lessons, and also teaches you to empathize. Moreover, as you try to establish yourself in this field, without any prior education in the medical sciences, it is a challenge.

Hence, to date, setting up a world-class diagnostics center without any medical education has been my toughest feat. But I strongly believe that my commitment and my vision have helped me reach where I stand today. I was able to live this journey only because of my love for books and agility to work with people from various backgrounds.

On work–life balance, my humble suggestion to every professional would be to prioritize actions in their lives. At the same time, find that balance to give equal attention to your personal goals, your family and your work.

I am grateful to my family that supports me immensely.

WGF: You believe in the highly noble and apt philosophy of “Let’s Do Good”. How satisfied are you with your profession and all that you have achieved in offering good to the society?

Pallavi Jain: At Krsnaa, we have worked day in and out to be at the place where we are today and yes, there are more big achievements in our list that we strive for – and most of the time we get there and occasionally we do not. But to me, it is working towards these goals and achievements, which makes me feel successful. I feel immensely satisfied with the kind of work that we do, and yet strive to deliver more in the years to come.

When I visualize millions of happy satisfied patients, who could avail free diagnostics services, I feel extremely proud, happy and accomplished.

WGF: Please share your message for the youth and women worldwide, who might pick threads of inspiration from your life story, and weave their own success stories in the future.

Pallavi Jain: If you give your 100% to your dream, you will surely achieve it. With this clarity, nothing can stop you; no gender bias, societal pressures or operational challenges. People with determination are the ones full of compassion, love and empathy, which should be harnessed as a strength.