Neusoft Group, China's largest Medical Technology solutions provider with a turnover of US $ 700 million, plans to enter into a joint venture with Trivitron group of companies to set up medical equipment manufacturing unit in Bangalore, India.

The potential joint venture will earmark an initial investment of US $ 5 million and will gradually scale it up to US $ 25 million over a period of 4 years. The manufacturing facility is expected to offer employment for over 200 people initially and will grow to 1000 people in the next 3 years.

The JV will be the first of its kind in the country and the new entity has plans to manufacture products and accessories like linear accelerator, laser imager, bio analyzer and PACS solution in the future. The Neusoft-Trivitron JV is considering Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi to set up its manufacturing facility. Neusoft has already established its direct service base in Bangalore in association with Trivitron for its CT & MRI systems and will be expanding this facility to other locations in the country.

"India is the most important market for Neusoft and we are looking at tapping the talent base available in India to set up Neusoft's second manufacturing base outside China," said Zheng Quanlu, president, Neusoft Medical Systems Co. Ltd., China. "Neusoft is used to adhering to the strictest quality standards similar to Siemens & GE who also have their manufacturing base in China and more over Philips & Neusoft have set up their joint venture in China for manufacturing CT/MRI for their global market. Our production facility here will reduce the cost of medical equipments in India thereby bringing down the cost of healthcare substantially," he further added.

"The large number of healthcare facilities being set up in the country and the growth of medical insurance are bound to propel the need for world-class and yet affordable medical technologies" said Dr G S K. Velu, managing director, Trivitron Group of Companies, Chennai, India "Our partnership with Neusoft, a global leader in this field will give us an unbeatable edge and a first-mover advantage in this field," he averred.

Neusoft-Trivitron JV is looking at achieving an annual turnover of over Rs. 100 crore from by 2007. . "Neusoft has internationally installed more than 800 CTs and 200 MRIs across the globe and also has established a strong after sales service infrastructure across India through Trivitron, which give us the reach and the ability to service the Indian medical equipment market well,'' said Dr Velu.