BANGALORE: Wipro and GE further extended their partnersip. GE Healthcare’s life sciences, medical diagnostics business units and X-ray manufacturing plants will be brought under Wipro GE Healthcare.

With this integration, Wipro GE Healthcare’s staff strength will more than double to 2,000. Wipro holds 49% and GE 51% in the joint venture.  V Raja, managing director of Wipro GE Healthcare, will head the integrated company. 

"The move to integrate our healthcare businesses in India will simplify the structure and improve services to the customers. We feel that, going forward, more innovation will be transported from India to the US, particularly in the healthcare space," said Jeffrey Immelt, GE’s chairman and CEO.

"We will continue to invest in building and designing new low-cost products for the Indian market. Going forward, we will launch new price points to reach out to the large masses in smaller towns and villages that were not getting adequate health facilities so far," said Wipro chairman Azim Premji.

Over the next six years, GE plans to spend around $3 billion on healthcare-related R&D with focus on low-cost medical devices and another $2 billion to drive healthcare IT and health in rural and underserved areas. However, the company declined to specify how much of this will be invested in India.