Medtronic announced investments of Rs 1200 crores to scale up and expand its current R&D center in Hyderabad into a state-of-the-art engineering and innovation center. The Medtronic Engineering & Innovation Center (MEIC) is being billed as the largest global R&D center outside of the US for Medtronic. This investment planned over five years will provide a boost to Telangana’s MedTech plans and cement Hyderabad’s position as the medical devices hub in India.
According to a release, the Government of Telangana and Medtronic have been in discussion for the last two years regarding the modalities of investment. During his visit to the United States in 2016, Hon’ble Minister for Industries & IT Shri KT Rama Rao and his team of officials from Government of Telangana had a meeting with Omar Ishrak, Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board, Medtronic.
The partnership was finally announced today via a virtual meeting with Ishrak, Geoff Martha, Medtronic CEO, Bob White, EVP and President, Minimally Invasive Therapies Group (MITG), Madan Krishnan, Vice President Indian Subcontinent and MITG APAC, Mani Prakash, Vice President R&D, MITG, Subu Mangipudi Vice President RGI Quality and MEIC and Divya Prakash Joshi, Sr Engineering Director and Site Leader, MEIC Hyderabad.
Among others with the Minister included Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan, IAS and Director for Life Sciences Shakthi Nagappan from Govt. of Telangana.
Making the announcement Ishrak said, “Research and Development leads to innovation and innovation is crucial to our growth strategy. Medtronic’s investment in India is a testament to our commitment to the region and we are proud to be collaborating with the Government of Telangana on this major investment in the country. The expansion of MEIC will help us serve the Medtronic Mission to use medical technology to alleviate pain, restore health and extend life for patients around the world, which is also aligned with the government’s vision to improve access to healthcare for patients in India.”
During the virtual meeting, KT Rama Rao said, “We are delighted that Medtronic has chosen Hyderabad as its largest R&D base outside the US and intends to create about 1000 jobs in the next few years. It is indeed a great honour for the city to host this center and it is a testimony to Hyderabad’s growing prowess in the medical devices sector. Government of Telangana is committed to the growth of med-tech in the state and we see this partnership with Medtronic as a pivotal one. We will work with them to ensure this center will continue to contribute to their remarkable efforts to improve healthcare globally.”
During the conversation, he also alluded to how the story on India for India and India for the world is getting stronger with recent turn of global events and assured them of all support from the state government for the company’s growth plans and aspirations in India.
Commenting on the announcement, Krishnan, Vice President Indian Subcontinent and Minimally Invasive Therapies Group APAC concluded saying, “At Medtronic, invention and innovation are vital so that we can help enhance therapy outcomes for people with chronic diseases. MEIC conducts advanced engineering R&D and product development in the areas of design, analysis, advanced hardware- software development and testing. The futuristic vision of Govt. of Telangana and access to great infrastructure has enabled us to make this investment in Hyderabad. I’m confident that this major investment would create many job opportunities in healthcare and help energise the medical devices innovation ecosystem in India.”