Bel In X-Ray Venture With Gen Electric

Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) and the $80 billion American giant General Electric have formed a joint venture company, GE-BEL, for manufacturing of X-ray tubes near Bangalore with an investment of Rs 10 crore.

While GE will hold 74 per cent equity in the venture, Bharat Electronics will have a 26 per cent stake in the 100 per cent export-oriented unit. Located at the export promotion industrial park at Whitefield here, this is GEs third X-ray tube manufacturing facility in the world and the only one in the Asian region after US and Europe (Paris).

GE-BEL has set a revenue target of $50 million by year 2000. It expects to reach a turnover of $5 million for the current financial year. The joint venture will use the local engineering skills and technical strengths of Bharat Electronics to target hospitals and medical professionals world wide.

 

This the placement of the final piece of our world wide strategy, said Jim Sheppard, general manager for GEs Global Tubes and Detectors business, our operating strategy dictates that our supply of tubes are always close to our customers.

With this new venture, we are situated in the centre of the fastest growing market in the world.

GE BEL venture is a part of the GE Medical Systems south Asia operations headquartered in Bangalore.