GE Health plans medical solutions arm

GE Healthcare, the $15 billion medical technology company, is planning to set up a region specific medical and diagnostic solutions arm in India.

This division, which is dedicated to regional market requirement, will mainly focus on designing, manufacturing and marketing of low-end products such as X-rays, ECG, utra-sound scanners etc. The operations of this new division would be managed through the company's 100 per cent Indian subsidiary -GE Medical Systems India.

The India specific product strategy is part of the company's long term business plan in developing countries, where the company witnesses a faster growth than developed markets such as the US and Europe, said Stephan R Bolze, president, International, GE Healthcare Technologies.

"We are also planning to expand the R&D and engineering team in India. Currently, GE Healthcare has over 1,500 people dedicated to research and development, which is largest in the world outside the US. "Considering the talent pool available here and the cost advantage, we may also shift few more existing R&D bases to India in future," he said.

V Raja said that the fresh investment for the Indian specific product wing would not be very substantial as the comapny has its strong research and technology team already in India. This team will help designing and developing the products for this division.

However, the company would outsource the manufacturing services from a Pune-based third party manufacturer, he added.

"We are expecting a sales turnover of one million dollar in the first year from this division and going by the current market estimate, there will be at least 12 per cent growth int he sales every year," he added.

GE Healthcare officials were in Mumbai today to launch the company's new generation imaging solution-GE LightSpeed Volume CT in the country.

The new generation CT Scanner that can non-invasively capture the image of any organ in the human body in just a second, has been installed at Jaslok Hospital for the first time in the country. The light speed scanner is costing $1.2 million in India, which is 30 to 40 per cent less than its international price.

The company's total investment in the country thus far was about $100 million. Since India is one of the very important market as well as potential R&D and manufacturing hub for the parent company, the invetment may go up substantially, Raja said.