Talking to The Financial Express, Davis Bashforth of Diamed AG said that India is a potential destination for setting up a production base as well since it offers huge market for most of our diagnostic products. However, enough volumes have to be generated to justify setting up a manufacturing base in India, he said.

In the first phase, Diamed recently formed a marketing-cum-technology joint venture (JV) with Morepen Laboratories to launch its internationally acclaimed Diamed OptiMAL rapid malaria test kits and ID micro typing systems for blood group serology.

Mr Bashforth said that India offers a huge market for its food testing equipment and blood coagulation and we will launch these products through the JV already floated with Morepen Laboratories.

However, the focus right now is on successfully marketing Diamed's internationally acclaimed Diamed OptiMAL rapid malaria test kits and ID micro typing systems for blood group serology in the Indian market through its JV with Morepen. Diamed is the world leader specialising in diagnostic products relating to blood group serology, immunohaematology, haematology, coagulation, veterinary diagnostic and infectious diseases. It has four manufacturing facilities outside Switzerland in the US, Brazil, France and Australia. Mr Bashforth said that we have been late in entering the Indian market because we were on the lookout for a strategic partner with sound infrastructure hand had the understanding of market dynamics.

India will probably be the last major target market for Diamed, he said. The JV in its marketing efforts plans to have over 50 distributors and 100 sub-distributors to market these products. It will focus on blood bank centers in the first phase and will target physicians, pathology laboratories, government and private hospitals in the second phase to market its blood group serology kits, Morepen Labs chairman and managing director Sushil Suri said.