Munesh Makhija, 44, the newly appointed Managing Director of GE India Technology Centre and CTO of GE India, has the envious reputation of being a fast-track executive within GE. Within three years of joining GE Healthcare in 2003 as Engineering Director for Network Applications in the patient monitoring business, he was promoted to General Manager – Communications and Informatics. Prior to his current role, he held various leadership positions within GE, including VP for Global Research at GE Healthcare and served as CTO for GE Healthcare in India.

In an exclusive interaction with Business Line , Makhija spelt out his priorities for India and emerging markets. Edited excerpts:

What’s your first priority in your new role?

My first priority is to understand the opportunity for GE within India and other emerging markets. During my stint as CTO of GE Healthcare India in 2010-12, we launched 14 affordable healthcare products for the country. Therefore, I understand the opportunity in the healthcare market much better than our other businesses spanning energy, aviation, transportation, consumer and industrial sectors. To understand the other businesses is my top priority.

The John F Welch Technology Centre in Bangalore, where I will be based, is called a ‘mini GE’ by our Chairman.

This is because it is GE’s first and largest, integrated multi-disciplinary R&D centre in a single location; a place where research and engineering are co-located, allowing businesses to work together.

I am very excited to be at the helm of this innovation hub.

What kind of locally relevant innovations will you focus on for the India market?

These are exciting times for India where I see a lot of optimism with the new Government in place. I have a talented team of 5,300 engineers and scientists across our centres in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai, who push the limits of science and technology to solve some of the world’s and India’s toughest problems in energy, healthcare, transportation, aviation, consumer and industrial domains. For instance, infant mortality is a huge problem in India. We have tried to address this problem by introducing innovative solutions such as, affordable baby warmers, resuscitation and phototherapy devices, which will help bring down infant mortality rates.

These solutions were also launched in Indonesia, Africa and Latin America. We have also developed innovative solutions for the India market in the area of wind energy, which have been taken to Western Europe, where there is a Government focus on renewable energy.

What excites you most about your move to India?

The collective capabilities and infrastructure we have in India combined with the addressable market opportunity and the general mood of optimism prevailing in the country, driven by political changes, excites me most about relocating to India.

The opportunity for us to innovate and contribute to changing the lives of over a billion people in India or solving global problems that impact the lives of millions of people out of India, is exciting. Innovating is all about solving tough problems that people face and delighting them as you do it.

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