GE Healthcare Life Sciences,the bio-tech and bio-pharma equipment division of the $17-billion medical equipment major GE Healthcare, will start making life sciences equipment in India in two years.
The company, which has three manufacturing facilities in Bangalore, in addition to an R&D centre, manufactures and exports medical devices and accessories such as tubes for X-ray machines out of India. It plans to manufacture its life sciences products in the same facilities.
Anurag Gupta, MD, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, South Asia, says: ?We have been present in India for the past two-and-a-half years, and we have been focused on R&D.? Almost 85% of GE?s production in India is exported.
The division is also looking to strengthen its R&D team in India to increase Indian content in its global life sciences products. The number of employees in the research department have quadrupled over the past one year.
?We have grown from 80 to 20 employees in R&D in the past year. India is the number one focus for life sciences for us at the moment and human resources will be a key investment area,? said Eric Grund, senior director, Biopharma Applications, GE Healthcare Life Sciences.
Grund expects India’s contribution in its global life sciences product development to move from software focus to an applications focus.
?India does a lot of software and some design work. We expect this to move towards more engineering and creating a better mix,? said Grund.