Consumer electronics major Philips will focus on developing healthcare products for rural India — a shift away from its exports–led strategy of the previous years.
Till about three years back, all products developed by the company were meant for exports and this has come down to about 85 per cent this year. Going forward, the quantum of products developed for the Indian markets will go up “exponentially” and the team “will churn out more products for rural India”, Mr Srinivas Prasad, Head of Healthcare at Philips Innovation Centre told Business Line .
The company's healthcare division is now developing products and low-cost solutions used in cardiology, cervical cancer and mother and child-care segments for rural markets. Philips is addressing a $5-billion market for healthcare products in India.
Affordable products
The company's 2,500 people-strong Philips Innovation Centre, handles healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle. Healthcare constitutes about half of its headcount. The team focuses on making India-focussed, cost-effective products. It also works on telemedicine and decentralised healthcare and making products portable.
The specialised R&D centre in Bangalore helps in ensuring affordability of products, said Mr A. Krishnakumar, President, Philips Healthcare India.
Philips recently launched its first product developed ‘in India for India'— the ClearVue range of ultrasound products. It partners with hospital chains to ideate new products relevant to India and also pilot the products.
Over the next few months, Philips will launch a range of products such as colposcopes (a device used to check for cervical cancer), thermo regulators, and cardiology informatics solutions for use in the local market.
The company will be inaugurating its greenfield manufacturing plant at Pune, which will manufacture the products. The company will also be opening a small R&D centre there to work on cardiology products and is also setting up a centre there to service its products.