Wipro GE Healthcare, the 35-year-old joint venture between GE HealthCare and Wipro Enterprises, has started rolling out its $1 billion investment plan to expand manufacturing in India and boost exports, confident that it can dodge the impact of reciprocal tariffs that the US may impose on India’s medtech industry.
The company expects to make about 70% of its products for the Indian market locally by 2030, a top executive said, compared with 40-45% currently.
“Our anticipation is that by the end of this period, we will reach somewhere in the vicinity of 70% locally procured, locally manufactured products to meet the Indian market requirement,” Chaitanya Sarawate, managing director of Wipro GE Healthcare, told Mint in an interview.
The company also wants to scale up exports out of India. Wipro GE Healthcare exports medical devices to about 70 countries, with the US as its largest market, followed by Europe.
“We fully anticipate more countries to be serviced from the manufacturing plants here in India. So our plans are quite ambitious,” he said.
US President Donald Trump has said reciprocal tariffs will be imposed on imports from India. At the same time, the Indian government is said to be considering cutting import duties on medical devices, leaving domestic manufacturers worried.
However, Wipro GE Healthcare does not anticipate any significant impact from these shifts. Its diversified supply chains and global businesses keep it relatively insulated from geopolitical uncertainties.
“From the GE HealthCare standpoint, they have a very diversified supply chain across different countries… so it’s a little bit too complex to know how exactly the tariff regime translates into being able to ensure that all the demand is met,” Sarawate said.
In India, the company has an established local supply chains for manufacturing and sourcing components.
$1 billion investment
The company said in March 2024 that it would invest $1 billion to expand its development and manufacturing footprint in India. The investments start rolling out this year, with the focus on expanding capacity, as well as on technical expertise and R&D.
“[That expansion] has just started, both in terms of the footprint of engineering that we have here, as well as in terms of manufacturing facilities that are getting built,” Sarawate said.
Wipro GE Healthcare has four plants in Karnataka and is scouting for another facility to increase capacity. The company manufactures high-tech medical devices such as ultrasound machines, imaging equipment like MRIs and CT scanners, as well as anaesthesia machines and patient monitors.
A large chunk of such high-tech equipment is currently imported into India. About 80-85% of India’s medical devices were imported in FY24. Wipro GE plans to reduce the import dependence.
The company is the leader in the medtech space in the country and holds the “lion’s share” of the market, Sarawate said. It is confident of holding its position even with the entry of new domestic rivals.
Startups such as Healthium and HRS Navigation are focused more on exporting to other markets as the domestic market remains largely dominated by MNCs, Mint reported earlier.
However, as demand rises, Sarawate said the market is big enough to require a diverse set of players. India’s medtech sector is expected to expand at a compounded annual growth rate of 20-23% for the next five years, according to consulting firm EY. Rising demand is a key tailwind.
“In India, there is demand because more and more people are becoming insured,” Sarawate said.
Additionally, a policy push, such as the National Medical Devices Policy in 2023 or the production-linked incentives scheme for medtech, have boosted capabilities.
