hCentive to invest Rs 750 cr in India R&D centre over 5 years

US-based hCentive, a healthcare IT solutions provider, today said it plans to invest Rs 750 crore in its R&D centre in India over the next five years.
The company, which currently employs over 750 people, of which about 600 are in R&D, also expects to ramp up its India team by about 25 per cent over the next twelve months, it said in a statement.
"As our research and development hub, our India office will see continued investment for hiring and scaling the infrastructure and facilities to support our aggressive growth plans," hCentive Senior Vice President and Head of Marketing VJ Bala said.

HCentive said it was one of the first companies in the US to build health insurance exchange solutions from the ground-up after the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed.
The company rapidly expanded to offer public and private health exchange marketplaces to tap both government and commercial markets in the US.
"The Indian IT market still needs more people with relevant software product experience in healthcare and health insurance. The skill gap is a big challenge, so we are hiring and training recruits in healthcare domain and soft skills in addition to technical skills," Bala added.
HCentive, which was formed in 2009, provides cloud-based and software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to US government agencies, carriers, and brokers to offer health insurance and benefits to consumers and businesses.