Healthcare entrepreneur GSK Velu to start food testing company

BENGALURU: Serial healthcare entrepreneur GSK Velu is entering the food testing segment, a space that’s gaining ground following greater consumer awareness, controversies such as those that were around Nestle’s Maggi, and the stricter regulatory environment.
Velu, with funding of Rs 100 crore from his family office GSK Ventures, has started MaxiVision Laboratories that will have 6-7 food testing laboratories.In time, the company will also start environment testing and pathology testing.
“We found an opportunity for integrating the analytical labs in a segment that is extremely fragmented. The idea is to buy about 6-7 labs in the first three years. We will invest in software, machines and marketing process to increase volumes in the labs rather than spend time in getting fresh approvals from the regulator,” Velu told TOI.
Velu previously founded Trivitron Group, a medical technology company, Medfort Hospitals, a network of eye care hospitals, and Alliance Medicorp, a chain of dialysis and dental care centres. Each food testing lab may cost between Rs 5 crore and Rs 10 crore, and about Rs 15 crore will be spent on new machinery, Velu said. The company will test processed and semi-processed food, packaged snacks, exports and even crops from farmers for pesticides.
India for long did not have a central agency like the FDA in the US to monitor the quality of food being consumed or being exported, leading to numerous food materials getting rejected and huge consignments being sent back. With the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) being set up five years ago, the rules have become stringent.
The Maggi controversy, where the FSAAI ordered the world’s largest food company to remove the product from the Indian market due to alleged high lead content, also highlighted the need for more labs for uniform test results. The market for food testing in India is expected to grow to Rs 8,000 crore by 2019 from Rs 4,500 crore at present. Velu has been joined by Siva Kumar Pasupathi, who is MD of MaxiVision. Kumar previously was the head of India operations at US-based life sciences equipment company Agilent Technologies.