Philips has entered the mother and childcare solutions business with products designed and developed entirely in India.

Globally, the Netherlands based 25 billion euro company has healthcare products such as CT scanners, ECG equipment , MRI scanners, radiography equipment, and defibrillators . On Thursday, it launched a range of infant warmers and incubators at prices that it said was significantly lower than of equivalent products currently in the Indian market. It said the products were of a quality that would make them attractive even in developed markets. GE Healthcare is the other major international player in this space in India.

Philips also launched two other devices that are significant advances over traditional solutions. One is a bilirubin (jaundice) measurement device that uses a harmless light and which needs to be simply held to a newborn’s forehead. The traditional method of measuring bilirubin is to draw blood with a painful needle; this takes time (because it involves laboratory services) and carries the risk of infection.

The other is a device to treat newborns who suffer from respiratory distress that lightly sits around the nose. The traditional solution involves inserting tubes into the infant’s nose, a process that’s also extremely difficult.

“All of these products have been completely conceptualized and developed in India,” said Krishnakumar, president of Philips Healthcare. Philips has a 2,000 people strong innovation campus in Bangalore, and in the Indian market, the company has been very successful in the radiology, cardiology , critical care and respiratory solutions areas.

“The products that we developed in India previously, the ClearVue ultrasound machine and the Centron cath lab, have had great success overseas. About 60% of the demand for ClearVue comes from abroad, a lot of it from Germany. Centron has seen major traction in France. It is perhaps the only imaging machine that can be used to capture images of both cardiovascular tissue and peripheral vascular tissue,” Krishnakumar said.

The company is conceptualizing the products based on the pricing and ruggedness requirements of India. But those very qualities are proving to be attractive for developed market customers. Krishnakumar admitted this would adversely impact the company’s profit margins, but Philips he said had a strategic focus to expand in emerging markets.

Infant warmers and incubators are seen to have huge potential demand in India given that over 3 lakh babies die in the country every year, and 50% of neonatal deaths happen within three days of birth. Many of the locally built warmers are badly designed and carry the risk of overheating . Ravi Ramaswamy, senior director in Philips Healthcare , said the company’s warmers are designed to ensure absolutely uniform heat dissipation, ensures that no heat spots develop, sets the heat level depending on the baby’s heat and comes with a biocompatible mattress that ensures no harm to the skin. GE Healthcare had launched warmers designed by and for India in 2009.