Medtronic to invest Rs 1,200 crore in Hyderabad to open largest R&D center outside US

Hyderabad: Medtronic plc, a multinational conglomerate in medical technology, has decided to invest Rs 1,200 crores to expand the current R&D (Research and Development) center in Hyderabad into a state-of-the-art engineering and innovation hub. This Medtronic Engineering and Innovation Center (MEIC) will be the largest global R&D center outside of the United States for Medtronic. This investment, planned over a period of five years, is said to boost Telangana’s position in the field of medical technology and establish Hyderabad as the hub for medical devices in India.

The Government of Telangana and Medtronic have been in discussion for the last two years regarding the modalities of this investment. During his visit to the United States in 2016, Minister for Industries and IT KT Rama Rao and his team of officials from the Government of Telangana met with Omar Ishrak, Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board, Medtronic. The partnership was finally announced on 11 August via a virtual meeting with Omar 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 the Government of Telangana.

Making the announcement, Omar Ishrak said, “Research and development leads to innovation which is crucial for growth. 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. 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.”

During the virtual meeting, KT Rama Rao briefed the Medtronic leadership team on various initiatives taken by the Telangana Government to promote medical devices and its related developments over the last few years. While recalling memories of his meeting with Omar Ishrak in the US, he congratulated him for taking over as the Executive Chairman of Medtronic and Chairman of the Board of Intel and congratulated Geoff Martha on his appointment as the new CEO of Medtronic.

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 1,000 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. The 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 that this center will continue to contribute to their remarkable efforts to improve healthcare globally.”

During the meeting, KT Rama Rao assured them full support from the state government for the company’s plans for growth and aspirations in India.

Madan Krishnan concluded the meeting and said, “At Medtronic, invention and innovation are vital so that we can help enhance therapy outcomes for people with chronic diseases. The 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 the government 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 innovation ecosystem for medical devices in India.”