‘We aspire to be an active catalyst to increase the pace of digitisation in the imaging sector’

Sushant Kinra, MD, Carestream Health India divulges his company’s plans for the next fiscal, its growth strategies for the Indian market, plans to tap the prevailing opportunities in the public healthcare sector of India and more, in conversation with M Neelam Kachhap

What are your key priorities for the next fiscal?

Our priorities are very clear. We have been leaders in analog for a very long time and pioneered many innovative products. This year, our vision is to be an active catalyst to increase the pace of digitisation in the imaging sector, apart from retaining and growing our market share in all product segments we offer in India.

What does India contribute to your global top line?

Currently, we are contributing five to six per cent of our global turnover, and by 2020, we aim to reach at least 10 per cent of it. At present, the biggest market in healthcare -the US spends 17 per cent of its total GDP, and is under severe pressure to cut down this expenditure, whereas India spends only one per cent of its total GDP on healthcare. Both these are extremes. While, the US and European markets will stagnate, and the China market is looking slow with single digit growth, the only positive outlook is India.

We expect India’s expenditure to go up in the near future. Thus, we foresee that the healthcare market will grow at 15-20 per cent in the next 10 years. With our innovative products and solutions, and with the favourable tail wind in India, we are confident of getting 10 per cent of our global revenue from India.

What percentage of your business comes from the public sector?

Currently, the overall share of public healthcare to our total business is around 10-12 per cent. However, we see a tremendous opportunity in the public healthcare sector. Thus, we have already set up a dedicated team in India to address the needs of our public healthcare system.

What are your plans to meet these goals?

Adding innovative products to our portfolio is our top priority to meet these goals. We would like to position our products as a solution for productivity improvements for our customers, hence reducing the overall cost of healthcare delivery. Our innovative solutions like the X-factor in our DR detectors not only enhances the overall productivity and improves workflow but also reduces the overall cost by using single detector for multiple rooms, wireless technology and cloud-based IT solutions.

What are the timelines for these product launches?

This year, we would be expanding our digital radiography (DR) portfolio to address all segments of our customers, and next year we are planning to launch our ultrasound and Cone Beam CT system to capture high quality 3D diagnostic images of extremities.

The ultrasound market has a unique challenge in India, the PCPNDT Act. What are your thoughts on the same?

PCPNDT is a good step to prevent deliberate female foeticide and sex selection,  a unique social problem in India. Though it can be seen as a major regulatory hurdle by some players in the market, we accept the significance of it.

Does it limit the market growth?

I don’t think so. Besides, there are many more applications of ultrasound than gynaecology and obstetrics. We can actually partner with stakeholders to spread knowledge about ultrasound diagnosis. There are lot of innovative solutions around ultrasound which goes beyond these two modalities. This technology offers clear advantages, such as no side effects, no dosage issues, and is an affordable technology compared to high-end imaging systems.

What are the other challenges you face in India?

Overall, I see good opportunities for healthcare in India but there are always some challenges which encourage us to use our creativity to address them. Addressing the large number of customers in public healthcare and their unique and complex requirements can be one of them. That’s the main reason we now have a dedicated team for handling government business, so that we can address their needs better and engage with them to address their challenges through our innovative products and solutions.

What are your investment plans for India in this fiscal?

This year we have invested more in our people. We have hired more engineers, account managers and back office teams in order to serve the needs of our customers and enhance their experience. We are continuing to invest in our tools and infrastructure. We have a world class CRM system, which we plan to integrate across all functions of the organisation. It will enable us to better identify the needs of our customers and connect with them.

What is India’s share of your total expenditure?

Globally, we spend about seven to eight per cent on R&D.  In India, we have invested significantly on our go-to-market strategy to ensure that we develop sustainable partnerships with our customers as well as our channel partners.

There are large MNCs in the imaging space, how do you perceive this competition?

We do not consider these MNCs as our competition. In fact, it’s the opposite – we have excellent synergies and we are partners in all aspects of business.

Are you working towards Made in India product?

We are exploring many options for our product pipeline. Take CR for example. India is the biggest market for CR systems in the world and needless to say, we are trying to look at reducing the overall cost of manufacturing them and see Make in India as an excellent opportunity to reduce these costs and enhance the pace of digitisation in India. So, there are active internal discussions happening to explore this further. I am sure something beneficial will come out of these deliberations soon.

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