BANGALORE: GE India will invest Rs 300 crore to set up multi-disciplinary R&D and technology centres here, as the conglomerate considers investment in India strategic to its global plans.

"India holds immense strategic importance in GE's overall growth plans. The new investment will further strengthen our efforts to partner the state of Karnataka and provide best in class products and localised solutions for the people of India," GE India President & CEO John Flannery said.

GE India, part of global giant GE, is into aviation, healthcare, energy, consumer electronics, oil & gas and water, among others.

The new investment is focused on expanding GE India's Technology Centre here to include experimental labs and its infrastructure showcasing leading-edge research and engineering in a number of areas of critical importance, company officials said on the sidelines of the Global Investors Meet, 2012, organised by the Karnataka government.

It would include research and engineering in cancer treatment, radiochemistry and other technology applications in healthcare, locomotive engines, heavy earth moving equipment and equipment for the energy sector, they said.

Set up in September 2000 here, the centre is GE's first and largest integrated multi-disciplinary research and development and engineering centre outside the US.

Investing heavily in advanced IT-enabled laboratories, the centre leads in engineering innovation across GE's diverse businesses.

Elaborating on GE's presence in the state, Gopichand Katragadda, MD, GE India Technology Center said, "GE's journey in India started with Karnataka and has over time harnessed the highly talented workforce in the state and enabling regulatory environment to strengthen its research, innovation and engineering capabilities across disciplines."

GE's India Technology Centre consists of over 4,000 employees. Over the last decade, the work done by employees at the Centre alone has contributed to over 1,500 patents being filed by the parent General Electric Company.