L&T medical arm eyes Rs 400 cr sales

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is planning to quadruple its sales from medical electronics business by 2010. The division contributes Rs 100 crore a year to the company's revenues.

"By 2010, our medical electronics division should contribute sales of Rs 400 crore. Of this, exports should be about Rs 200 crore. Our exports to the US should touch Rs 80-100 crore by then," said R N Mukhija, president - operations, L&T.

L&T has begun exports of patient monitors to the US. It has been in the medical electronics business since 1990, which has turned out to be profitable for the company so far.

L&T is currently manufacturing patient monitoring systems, electro surgical equipment, ultrasound equipment and X-ray machines.

The company is exporting the equipment to Europe, the Middle-East and neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

In the domestic market, L&T currently supplies its medical equipment to private and government hospitals, defence establishments, and small and large clinics.

"With the government stepping up its healthcare initiatives and increasing awareness being generated among the rural masses, we see a very good growth for medical equipment in the domestic market," said Mukhija.

The company is planning to spend about Rs 25-30 crore this year for its medical electronics division in Mysore.

The total domestic medical equipment market is estimated at Rs 1,500 crore. About Rs 400 crore worth equipment is exported every year.

Some of the major foreign and domestic players active in the market include Siemens, Wipro-GE, Philips, Hewlett Packard, BPL, LG, and Samsung.