Oct. 9 – General Electric (GE) is stepping up efforts to develop its global healthcare business by combining all its healthcare units in India as well the rest of the Asian region under its Wipro GE Healthcare joint venture.
The Hindu reports that the plans will consolidate the company’s business and manufacturing units GE Healthcare Life Sciences, GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics and GE Medical Systems India.“The simplification of our healthcare business will help us accelerate growth. This is the natural next step in our successful joint venture in healthcare with Wipro,” the GE global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Jeffrey Immelt was quoted by The Hindu as saying.
The Wipro GE Healthcare joint venture has been operating since 1990 and manages majority of GE Healthcare’s products and solutions. Wipro is a huge Indian conglomerate with stakes in various industries including being the second largest IT company in the country.
Immelt says GE wants to offer products that are manufactured and sold in India: “At the moment, about 20-25 percent of the products we sell in India are manufactured domestically. But in the next 5-7 years, we plan to increase this number to 50 to 70 percent.”
He added: “This is an exceptionally good time to invest in India. If the Indian economy keeps growing at around 7 percent even during such a tough time then it would be very good for GE.”
