Pathology labs in India: list, NABL, lab rules and how to sell

The quick answer

Pathology labs in India range from one-room collection centres to hospital laboratories and national chains fed by many collection centres. Starleads' data holds 2,836 pathology labs and diagnostic centres across 20 states and 31 cities, and the three biggest states, Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka, hold 65% of them. No single national register lists every lab: registration depends on your state, the Clinical Establishments Act, 2010 applies in only some states and Union Territories, and NABL accreditation is voluntary. To check a lab, look at its state registration, its pathologist's qualification and its NABL certificate, if it claims one.

This guide is for businesses that deal with labs: reagent and analyser suppliers, lab software firms, companies choosing a lab for staff health checks, hospitals that outsource tests, and sales teams that want a pathology labs list with contact numbers. It explains the kinds of labs, where they are, the minimum standards the central rules set for them, how NABL accreditation works, how to check a lab step by step, and how to sell to labs within TRAI's calling rules.

What counts as a pathology lab in India

"Pathology lab" is used loosely. In everyday speech it means any place that takes a blood sample and gives a report. In the central minimum standards (covered below), the phrase is "medical diagnostic laboratories (or pathological laboratories)", and it covers any clinical establishment where "pathological, bacteriological, genetic, radiological, chemical, biological investigations or other diagnostic or investigative services" are carried on with the aid of laboratory or medical equipment. That is why a list of pathology labs usually includes X-ray, ultrasound and CT centres too.

For anyone selling to labs or choosing one, the type matters more than the name on the board:

Type of lab	What it does	What it usually buys or needs
Standalone neighbourhood lab	Runs routine tests (blood sugar, haemogram, kidney and liver function, lipid profile, urine) in-house, often with one pathologist or a visiting one; sends special tests to a bigger lab.	Semi-automated analysers, reagents and controls, collection tubes, a billing and reporting app, a reference lab for outsourced tests
Collection centre or franchise	Collects samples, often under a chain's brand, and ships them to a processing lab. Little or no testing on site.	Collection kits, cold boxes, couriers or riders, a booking app, signage
Hospital laboratory	Serves in-patients and out-patients round the clock; often has microbiology, histopathology and a blood centre.	Fully automated analysers on reagent-rental contracts, LIS linked to the hospital system, quality control material, annual maintenance contracts
Regional and national chains	Central processing labs fed by many collection centres; large test menus including molecular and genetic tests.	High-volume analysers, logistics, software, proficiency testing programmes, tenders for corporate and government contracts
Imaging and diagnostic centres	X-ray, ultrasound, CT, MRI and endoscopy, often alongside a pathology counter.	Imaging equipment and service contracts, films and printers, radiologists, PACS software

The sample rows on Starleads' list page show the mix: a branded chain collection centre sits next to a single-owner clinical laboratory and an endoscopy centre in the same city. If you sell analysers, the standalone lab and the hospital lab are your buyers; if you sell collection supplies or courier services, the collection centres and chains are.

Where the labs are: Starleads' figures

Starleads' Pathology Labs & Diagnostic Centres list for all of India had 2,836 businesses across 20 states and 31 cities when we checked the list page on 1 November 2026. These are counts of contacts in Starleads' data, built from business listings, not an official census of laboratories: a chain's collection centres can appear as separate rows, and labs that never listed themselves are missing. India has far more labs than this, so read the figures as a sample of where listed labs cluster, not a total.

State or city	Labs and diagnostic centres in Starleads' data	What the list page shows
Maharashtra	1,139	The largest state; 87% have a mobile number and 75% name the contact person; Mumbai 955, Pune 159, Nashik 4
Mumbai	955	84% of the state's labs; 87% mobile, 27% email, 73% landline, 79% with a contact name
Delhi	410	85% mobile, 23% email, every row with a PIN code; 271 are listed as path labs and testing centres, 19 as X-ray labs and 14 as endoscopy centres
Bengaluru	287	99% mobile, 36% email, 92% with a PIN code; most in Jayanagar (11), Rajajinagar (11) and Vijaya Nagar (10); 15 CT scan centres
Hyderabad	274	Only 29% have a mobile number, but 97% have a landline; 250 are listed as diagnostic centres

Across all of India, 81% of rows have a mobile number, 71% a landline, 30% an email address and 7% a website; 98% have a street address and 71% name a contact person. By category, the biggest groups are path labs and testing centres (1,028), diagnostic centres (282) and X-ray labs (118); the rest are ultrasound, CT, MRI and endoscopy centres and labs described in other ways. After Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka, the next largest states are Telangana, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The city ranking is Mumbai (955), Delhi (371), Bengaluru (287), Hyderabad (274) and Pune (159).

Two things stand out. The data leans heavily towards Mumbai, which holds a third of the all-India list; that reflects where labs list themselves, not necessarily where most labs are. And Hyderabad's list is a landline list: if you plan to call mobiles or send WhatsApp messages there, expect to reach fewer than a third of rows that way. Starleads also publishes city-by-city counts for every industry on its Insights page.

Our pathology labs list today

Right now our Pathology Labs & Diagnostic Centres list has 2,836 labs and centres in 31 cities. 81% have a mobile number and 30% an email address. Most are in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune. Every list page shows 60 sample rows and offers a free Excel download, and you can buy one of 3 cities instead of all of India.

Pathology labs by city and state

• Mumbai 955 contacts · 27% email · 87% mobile ₹499
• Bengaluru 287 contacts · 36% email · 99% mobile ₹499
• Hyderabad 274 contacts · 18% email · 29% mobile ₹499

Lists of the businesses around labs

Labs sit between equipment suppliers on one side and doctors and hospitals, who refer the tests, on the other. These lists cover both.

• Pathology Labs & Diagnostic Centres 2,836 contacts · 30% email · 81% mobile ₹499
• Lab & Scientific Equipment Suppliers 1,841 contacts · 60% email · 68% mobile ₹499
• Medical Equipment Suppliers 3,970 contacts · 41% email · 78% mobile ₹499
• Surgical & Hospital Supplies Dealers 5,113 contacts · 54% email · 84% mobile ₹499
• Hospitals & Nursing Homes 22,575 contacts · 45% email · 61% mobile ₹1,999
• Doctors & Clinics 2,65,071 contacts · 40% email · 79% mobile ₹1,999

The rules a pathology lab works under

Three sets of rules matter, and they are often confused: state registration of the lab as a clinical establishment, the central minimum standards for laboratories, and voluntary accreditation by NABL. A fourth, the licensing of the reagents and kits a lab uses, matters to suppliers.

Registration under the Clinical Establishments Act, 2010

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's Clinical Establishments Act portal says the Act was enacted "to provide for registration and regulation of all clinical establishments in the country with a view to prescribe the minimum standards of facilities and services provided by them". It also says the Act has been adopted in 19 States and UTs: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and all Union Territories except the NCT of Delhi. The portal offers provisional and permanent certificates and an online registration form.

That means the rules differ by state. A lab in Jaipur, Lucknow, Patna or Hyderabad registers under the central Act through the state's online system. A lab in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata or Delhi works under its own state's law on private medical establishments, or under municipal and health department rules; ask the state health department which one applies. For a buyer, the practical point is the same everywhere: ask the lab for its registration certificate and check who issued it.

Minimum standards for laboratories (G.S.R. 468(E), 2018)

On 18 May 2018 the central government amended the Clinical Establishments (Central Government) Rules, 2012 with a new rule 8A and a Schedule of minimum standards for "Medical Diagnostic Laboratories (or Pathological Laboratories)". The Gazette notification, published on the same portal, sorts labs into three levels by the tests they do, and sets what each must have:

Requirement	Basic composite lab	Medium lab	Advanced lab
Typical tests	Routine biochemistry (blood sugar, kidney and liver function, lipid profile, HbA1c, electrolytes), haemogram, bleeding and clotting time, blood grouping, rapid point-of-care tests, urine and stool microscopy; can also run in a mobile lab	Adds hormone assays, tumour markers, protein electrophoresis, PAP smear, FNAC, serology, bacterial and fungal culture and sensitivity	Adds coagulation profile, drug monitoring and toxicology, molecular genetics, RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, all other haematology
Technical head or authorised signatory	MBBS desirable; a registered MBBS doctor is essential wherever results need interpretation or an opinion	Essential: MD or DNB in pathology, biochemistry, microbiology or laboratory medicine, or DCP, or MBBS with a PhD in one of those subjects	Same as medium
Laboratory technicians (DMLT, BSc MLT, or MSc biochemistry or microbiology)	At least 1	At least 2	At least 4
Support staff (lab assistant or attendant)	At least 1	At least 1	At least 2
Frozen section facility	Not applicable	Essential	Essential

The Schedule also says, for every level:

• The authorised signatory is liable for the authenticity of the laboratory test report. Biopsy and cytology specimens must be reported by an MD or DNB in pathology, and special biochemistry and microbiology tests by an MD or DNB in that subject.
• Signage is essential: the name of the person in charge with qualification and registration number, the services offered, and the fee structure, with the type of test and its charge displayed.
• Biomedical waste must be segregated in coloured bins and bags under the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016, and registration with the State Pollution Control Board, with its number and expiry date, is listed as an essential legal requirement.
• Equipment and supplies: lists of equipment, instruments, reagents, consumables and disposables are essential, as are sterilisation (a hot air oven or autoclave) and a process for calibrating equipment and reagents. An annual or comprehensive maintenance contract with log books is "desirable".
• HIV: all HIV-positive rapid tests need confirmation from the next-level laboratory, and a counselling room is essential where HIV tests are done.

Strictly, these standards sit in the central rules, which apply where the central Act is in force; states with their own laws set their own standards. They are still the clearest public statement of what a properly run lab looks like, and a good checklist anywhere in India.

NABL accreditation: voluntary, but the mark buyers look for

The National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) is a constituent board of the Quality Council of India, and its home page counts "14,000+ Accredited / Recognised Labs" of all kinds, from food and water testing to calibration, not only medical labs. Its medical laboratory page says it accredits medical labs to ISO 15189 in disciplines including clinical biochemistry, clinical pathology, haematology, microbiology and serology, histopathology, cytopathology, flow cytometry, cytogenetics, molecular diagnostics and medical imaging.

The NABL FAQs make four points worth knowing:

• NABL "provides voluntary accreditation services and has no regulatory powers"; each lab still has to follow national and state laws.
• The certificate is valid for four years, with annual surveillance and a reassessment every two years.
• Accredited medical labs must take part in at least one proficiency testing or external quality assessment programme a year per discipline.
• Each certificate carries a unique number, a QR code, the discipline, a validity date and the scope, and the NABL site has a box to verify a certificate by number, plus lists of suspended and withdrawn labs.

Accreditation covers a scope, not the whole lab: a lab may be accredited for biochemistry and haematology but not for histopathology. Always read the scope against the tests you need.

Small labs have a lighter route. NABL's Medical Entry Level Testing (M(EL)T) programme recognises labs doing basic tests on the strength of satisfactory proficiency testing in the previous six months, for one three-year cycle, with on-site surveillance during that time. It is not open to medical college labs, labs run by a corporate group or labs in hospitals with 50 or more beds, and it is "not covered under APAC & ILAC MRA", so it is not international accreditation.

Licences for reagents and test kits

If you supply labs, your products have their own rules. The CDSCO's in-vitro diagnostics page says the import, manufacture, sale and distribution of in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) devices are regulated under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, with licence requirements in the Medical Devices Rules, 2017. IVDs are classed by risk from Class A (low) to Class D (high). The Central Licensing Authority handles imports of all classes and manufacture of Class C and D; the State Drugs Controller handles manufacture of Class A and B and the "sale, stock, exhibit or offer for sale or distribution" of IVDs of all classes. In plain terms: a dealer selling test kits and reagents to labs needs the right licence from the state, and a lab buyer can ask to see it.

How to check a pathology lab, step by step

Companies choose labs for pre-employment and annual health checks, hospitals and clinics pick reference labs for tests they don't run, and suppliers check a lab before giving it equipment on credit or reagent rental. The checks are the same:

1. Confirm the legal entity. Get the lab's legal name, address and GSTIN if it has one. A GSTIN can be looked up on the GST portal, and a private limited company on the MCA site; our company search guide shows how. A collection centre under a chain's brand may be a separate franchisee with its own entity.
2. Ask for the state registration. In a state that has adopted the Clinical Establishments Act, that is the provisional or permanent certificate under the Act; elsewhere, the registration under the state's own law or the local authority. Check the address on the certificate matches the premises you visit.
3. Check who signs the reports. The signage should name the person in charge with qualification and registration number. For anything beyond routine tests, the central standards expect an MD or DNB (or DCP) signatory. Ask whether the pathologist is on site full time or reviews reports remotely.
4. Verify any NABL claim. Take the certificate number from the report or wall, verify it on the NABL site, and read the scope and validity date. Check the suspended and withdrawn lists too. If the lab says "NABL" but the test you need is outside the scope, the accreditation does not cover that test.
5. Ask about outsourcing. Many labs send special tests to a bigger lab. That is normal, but you should know which lab processes your samples and whose name signs the report.
6. Check biomedical waste arrangements. Ask for the Pollution Control Board authorisation and the name of the common biomedical waste treatment facility that collects their waste.
7. Agree the paperwork. Price list per test or package, GST treatment, credit terms, data handling (your employees' test reports are personal data under the DPDP Act; see our DPDP guide), and who to call when a result looks wrong.

What pathology labs buy, and who sells to them

The minimum standards list what every lab must have: equipment, instruments, reagents, consumables, disposables, sterilisation, calibration and biomedical waste handling. Each of those is a market:

What labs buy	Who sells it	What the buyer asks first
Biochemistry, haematology and immunoassay analysers	Makers and their distributors; often placed on reagent rental (the analyser is free or cheap, the lab commits to buying reagents)	Cost per test, reagent lock-in, service response time, interfacing with their software
Reagents, controls, rapid test kits	IVD makers, importers and licensed dealers	Price per kit and per test, shelf life, cold chain, CDSCO and state licences
Collection supplies	Vacuum tube, needle, swab and container suppliers; surgical and hospital supplies dealers	Monthly volume pricing, delivery frequency
Lab information software and apps	LIS and billing software firms	Report formats, WhatsApp or SMS delivery of reports, analyser interfacing, data backup
Calibration, maintenance and proficiency testing	Calibration labs, service engineers, NABL-accredited PT providers	Accreditation of the calibration lab, schedule, cost per year
Biomedical waste and logistics	Common treatment facilities, sample couriers and rider services	Pickup frequency, authorisation papers, temperature control

Labs also sell to businesses: corporate health check-ups, pre-employment tests, camps at factories and schools, and reference testing for smaller labs, hospitals and nursing homes. Starleads' lists of lab and scientific equipment suppliers (1,841 contacts, 68% with a mobile number), medical equipment suppliers (3,970, 78% mobile) and surgical and hospital supplies dealers (5,113, 84% mobile) cover the supply side; hospitals and nursing homes (22,575) and doctors and clinics (2,65,071) cover the referral side. Our guides to lab equipment suppliers, hospitals and doctors go deeper on each.

How to sell to pathology labs, step by step

1. Pick the lab level you serve. A semi-automated analyser suits a basic composite lab with one or two technicians; a medium or advanced lab with an MD pathologist and four technicians wants automation and interfacing. The three-level table above is a quick way to sort a list by what each lab likely needs: check the category and look at the lab's website or signboard for its test menu.
2. Find the decision-maker. In a standalone lab, the owner-pathologist decides almost everything. In a chain, purchase sits at the regional or head office, and a collection centre cannot buy for the network. In a hospital, the lab head recommends and the purchase department and administrator approve.
3. Start with a city you can service. Labs care about service response more than anything: a broken analyser stops tests that day. Start where your engineer can reach in hours, for example Mumbai and Pune from one base, or Bengaluru's Jayanagar and Rajajinagar clusters, before going state-wide.
4. Lead with cost per test and uptime. For reagents and analysers, show the cost per reportable test including controls and calibrators, and your service terms in writing. For software, show a sample report and how it reaches the doctor or patient.
5. Time the call. Mornings are for sample collection and processing; owners and pathologists are freer in the afternoon.
6. Offer a trial or demo kit where your product allows it, and ask for one proficiency testing result or comparison run on their own samples before a big order.
7. Follow up with the paperwork labs need: your drug or IVD licence, GST invoice, calibration certificates and warranty terms.

Calling, SMS and email: TRAI's rules apply to labs too

A lab owner's mobile is a business contact, but India's telecom rules still apply when you call or message it for promotion. TRAI's preference registration page explains that any mobile user can block commercial communication by SMS or a call to 1909, by IVR, through an approved app or on a web portal with OTP. Its advice to senders says a business sending commercial messages must register as a principal entity, send only through registered headers (up to 11 characters), register its content templates, and "acquire consent of customers through a registered consent template"; failing any step "will not allow you to send" commercial communication. This is the DLT system.

In practice: check numbers against the DND (NCPR) register before a calling campaign (our DND check guide shows how), make one-to-one sales calls from a normal business number, use registered DLT templates for any bulk SMS, and stop when asked. For email, send in small batches from your own domain with an easy opt-out; our cold email templates and cold calling tips give wording to start from.

One firm line: labs hold health records of the people they test. Starleads sells contact details of labs as businesses only. It does not sell lists of patients or test results, and no lawful seller does; don't ask a lab or a data vendor for them.

What Starleads' list is good for, and where it falls short

Every Starleads pathology labs list, whether all of India, a state or a city, costs ₹499 plus 18% GST, and every list page has 60 real contacts as a free Excel or PDF sample. Look at the sample before you buy; if it does not fit what you sell, don't buy.

Where it helps: a supplier or software firm gets names, mobiles, landlines and addresses for over two thousand labs in one sheet, sorted by city and category, instead of copying them one at a time from directory sites. Where it falls short, plainly:

• It is not complete. It covers 20 states and 31 cities, with a heavy Mumbai weighting. Large parts of eastern, central and north-eastern India have few or no rows. For a state Starleads doesn't list separately, the all-India file is the only option, and it may hold few labs there.
• It does not show accreditation or registration. Nothing in the list tells you whether a lab is NABL-accredited or registered with the state. Verify that yourself on the NABL site and with the lab.
• Chains repeat. A chain's collection centres can appear as separate rows with the same brand. For a head-office sale, collapse them to one account.
• Contact coverage varies by city. Hyderabad's list has mobiles for only 29% of rows; Mumbai's has PIN codes for only 26%. Read the coverage line on each list page.
• Details go out of date. Labs change owners and numbers. Expect some numbers to fail and clean as you call.

If you need labs together with doctors or hospitals in particular cities, the list builder combines up to ten industries and any states or cities in one file.

Questions people ask about pathology labs in India

How many pathology labs are there in India?

There is no single official count, because registration is done state by state and many states don't use the central Clinical Establishments Act. Starleads' data holds 2,836 pathology labs and diagnostic centres with contact details; that is the count in Starleads' data, not a census. NABL's "14,000+ accredited or recognised labs" covers every kind of lab, not only medical ones.

Is NABL accreditation mandatory for a pathology lab?

No. NABL says its accreditation is voluntary and it has no regulatory powers. Some buyers, such as government schemes, insurers and corporate tenders, may ask for it, and NABL notes accreditation helps in tenders that need independently verified labs. State registration is the legal requirement where a law applies.

Who can sign a pathology lab report?

Under the 2018 central minimum standards, the authorised signatory is liable for the authenticity of the report. For a basic lab, a registered MBBS doctor is essential wherever results need interpretation; medium and advanced labs need an MD or DNB in pathology, biochemistry, microbiology or laboratory medicine, or a DCP, or MBBS with a PhD in those subjects. Biopsies and cytology must be reported by an MD or DNB in pathology.

What do I need to open a pathology lab?

At minimum: registration as a clinical establishment under your state's law, a qualified technical head and technicians (at least one DMLT or BSc MLT technician even for a basic lab under the central standards), biomedical waste authorisation from the State Pollution Control Board, the equipment and reagents for your test menu. NABL M(EL)T recognition or full ISO 15189 accreditation can come later. Check the exact rules with your state health department.

Is there a free pathology lab list PDF for India?

Each Starleads list page offers a free sample of 60 real contacts as Excel or PDF, with phone numbers and emails partly masked. The full list is an Excel file. Directory sites show labs one city at a time without an export.

Can I buy a list of people who got tests done?

No. Test results and the people behind them are health data, protected by law, and Starleads does not sell lists of patients or any private individuals. A pathology labs list contains the labs as businesses: name, contact person, phone, email and address.