What is the current focus of LSCA group in India?
The focus of LSCA group in India is to continue to provide state-of-the-art analytical technologies to its customers across markets through effective solutions. Agilent has a strong presence in food and pharma markets and in a similar manner would like to expand into other areas of the Indian market, such as environmental and material science.

What are the new trends in the healthcare industry in India?
Healthcare is one-of-the-rapidly growing businesses in India and it would continue to grow at a similar rate for several years in the future as well. In view of the huge need for quality healthcare in India, all the segments of healthcare will see an upward trend. The major technological area where healthcare will grow is molecular diagnostics.

The other key development in healthcare is the entry of analytical technologies into the clinical diagnostics laboratory. This will transform the way patient testing is done in India, leading to faster and economical laboratory testing. Currently, most of the players in analytical instrumentation industry have made an entry in this segment and this will see a major surge in the coming years. It is a huge area of opportunity.

Agilent has started expanding its presence in the diagnostics segment as well. Tell us a bit more about this segment.
The recent acquisition of Dako and its portfolio will help Agilent accelerate growth in several rapidly-expanding areas of diagnostics, as well as strengthen our existing offerings. We acquired Dako in June 2012 for $2.2 billion, following which Agilent formed a new business segment, the Diagnostics and the Genomics Group (DGG). Dako is one-of-the-leading global suppliers of cancer diagnostics tools, providing antibodies, reagents, scientific instruments and software to customers.

Does Agilent plan to have a manufacturing unit in India?
As a forward looking company, we take into account all options that are generally available. There are a lot of options and strategies that we are seeking to implement. If setting up a plant is a decent opportunity that will put us ahead of other players, then there is no harm in exploring that option.