GE Healthcare Technologies, the world’s largest medical solutions provider, is in talks for acquiring BPL Ltd.’s medical devices business -- BPL Healthcare Business Group.

Sources said the $15-billion GE Healthcare wanted to have a medical and diagnostic solutions business in India as part of its expansion strategy in South Asia. They added that the acquisition could be through GE’s wholly owned Indian subsidiary GE Medical Systems India.

BPL Healthcare Business Group has an annual turnover of over Rs. 60 crore. It has nearly 90 per cent share in the ECG machines market and about 40 per cent share in the X-ray machine, cathlabs and low-end scanner segment.

GE, which is present at the high-end segment of the medical and diagnostic devices business, is targeting major hospitals in the metros and big cities.

BPL Healthcare, the leader in the Indian ECG market, offers better synergy for GE to establish itself in the domestic market, especially in the semi-urban and rural hospitals. In addition, BPL Healthcare exports to SAARC, West Asian and Far Eastern countries.

The regional market strategy of GE is to meet local market requirements, focusing mainly on designing, manufacturing and marketing of low-end products like X-ray and ECG machines.

GE is also planning to expand its research and development and engineering team in India, already the largest in the world outside the US. GE Healthcare has over 1,500 people dedicated to R&D.

BPL sources said the company’s efforts in the past few months had been to provide medical solutions that were on a par with international standards and at the same time economically feasible in the domestic market. 

(www.business-world.com)