GE startup GenWorks’ rural India healthcare push

For years, medical device makers have tried to take healthcare to the farthest corners of India, where most of the population lives. Most attempts have had little success. Now, GE is giving it another shot

Rural Indians do not value healthcare above jobs, education or other priorities

That’s made it difficult for medtech companies to sell to tier 2, 3 and 4 towns

In 2015, GE launched GenWorks, an independent startup that would do only rural India sales

GenWorks has doubled sales for GE in three years, but it needs to ensure recurring revenue to stay in the game

For about a decade now, the big three medtech companies—Wipro GE Healthcare, Philips Healthcare and Siemens Healthineers—have desperately tried their luck in rural India. And had little success.

They’ve made repeated attempts to sell everything from ECGs to X-rays and infant warmers to the rural population.

So, when S Ganeshprasad, the then-director at GE, spotted Aravamudan Krishna Kumar, the then-managing director at Philips, at a radiology conference in 2015, he was curious about Philips’ latest attempt.

After pleasantries, Kumar told him, “Ganesh, our rural experiment failed. It’s so difficult, you know, to maintain.

AUTHOR

Gayathri Vaidyanathan

Gayathri writes on health, environment and science. She has reported and produced stories for the Washington Post, Discover, Nature, and the New York Times, amongst other publications. In her last assignment, she was the lead science writer for E&E News in Washington, D.C. E&E News is a news organisation focused on energy and the environment. Over the past decade, Gayathri has travelled across North America, Africa and Asia on long-form reporting projects. She has a master’s in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor's in biochemistry from McMaster University in Ontario. At The Ken, Gayathri will write on healthcare, the pharmaceutical business and the environment. Based in Bengaluru, you can reach her at gayathri at the rate the-ken.com

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