Although India has managed to develop most major categories of hospital equipment independently, the MRI scanner remained a rare exception. The magnets, electronics, and software for these devices were sourced from a small number of multinational manufacturers, forcing Indian hospitals to pay import prices.
Beyond the purchase cost, operational expenses are also significant. Traditional scanners are cooled with liquid helium, which is expensive, scarce, and difficult to transport. Furthermore, these machines are quite heavy, meaning hospitals cannot always install them anywhere in the building.
Innovations was founded in Bangalore in 2017 by Arjun Arunchalam, who holds master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and previously worked at the GE Global Research Center in New York from 2006 to 2008. After leaving GE in October 2008, he planned to start his own company. Following an unsuccessful attempt to secure funding, Arunchalam joined IIT Bombay as a lecturer in electrical engineering.
Thanks to a grant from Spring Singapore, received after his family relocated in 2013, a small test scanner was acquired. In May 2016, he presented a proposal to Tata Trusts for the creation of MRI scanners in India. The FISE fund, where the core team worked in the early years, introduced him to Tata Trusts. The prototype, installed at the Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences in Bangalore, first generated images in March 2018.
This product is a compact full-body scanner with a field strength of 1.5 Tesla, meeting clinical standards. The company claims it is designed to operate in both stationary and mobile configurations, maintaining image quality even under challenging installation conditions.
A key element of the design is the magnet. Voxelgrids uses a superconducting magnet that does not require liquid helium, which, according to the company, reduces the scanner's production cost by approximately 40%. This allows the machine to weigh only two to three tons, compared to six tons for traditional systems.
The weight determines where the scanner can be placed. Lighter equipment can be installed on upper floors, in smaller hospitals, or on a mobile platform, explaining the company's focus on small towns and villages. Voxelgrids states that its electronics are densely packed around the magnet, which contributes to reduced energy consumption.
All engineering work, including software, electronics, and the cryogenic magnet, was done in-house. Arunchalam filed a US patent in December 2015, granted to the company, covering part of the scanner's design. Voxelgrids received ISO 13485 certification in mid-2020 and a license for commercial production and sale in June 2023.
The first clinical installation of Voxelgrids was carried out at the Chandrapur Cancer Care Foundation near Nagpur, which was unveiled in December 2025 and is now used for patient diagnosis. Tata Trusts, which supported the company during the development phase, also ordered one unit.
Zoho Corporation led a $5 million Series A round in 2021, which, according to Arunchalam, provided the company with sufficient time for further scanner development. According to Business Today, Tata Trusts and later Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu played a crucial role in sustaining the company during that period. Under the National Biopharma Mission, the Department of Biotechnology contributed 12 crore rupees out of a total of 17 crore rupees spent on scanner development, channeled through the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
The facility in Bangalore is set up to produce 20 to 25 scanners annually. In December 2025, Arunchalam announced that the full commercial launch is expected by the end of the financial year, and the company plans to raise a larger round as mass production approaches. There are currently 33 people on the team.
Aside from the installation in Chandrapur and the order from Tata Trusts, no data has been disclosed regarding clients, contract values, or revenue, and the commercial launch announced by Arunchalam has not been separately publicized since.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines have begun to be manufactured in India. A company based in Bangalore is developing affordable MRI devices and distributing them across the country. However, the process of creating such equipment is fraught with serious difficulties, as global corporations often acquired small Indian companies that were introducing new technologies.
The first MRI manufacturer in India, VoxelGrids from Bangalore, faced similar challenges. Nevertheless, financial support received from Tata Trust and Zoho, with the involvement of Sridhar Vembu, helped this company create and deliver MRI machines to every corner of India.
For decades, countries such as the USA, Germany, Japan, China, Italy, and the Netherlands have produced MRI machines, and hospitals worldwide use them, with India being one of the largest consumers. Arjun Arunachalam, founder and CEO of VoxelGrids, struggled with funding while developing one of the world's most complex medical instruments and competing with multi-billion dollar companies. When he was offered a deal by a foreign firm, he refused.
According to Arunachalam, if he had accepted the offer from a foreign company, innovation would have stopped, and that foreign firm would have taken over the entire development. Thanks to funding from Tata Trust and Sridhar Vembu, Arunachalam's startup received significant support. This allowed the startup enough time to develop the first indigenous MRI scanner in India.
In 2015, when Ratan Tata was the chairman of Tata Trust, Arunachalam received funding after meeting with him. The initial funding for this company came specifically from Tata Trust. Later, in 2021, the company received major support from the founder of Zoho.
Arunachalam told India Today Digital that this device is capable of reducing the cost of MRI scans by approximately 70%, making medical services accessible anywhere in the country. VoxelGrids has made a breakthrough in medicine: its MRI machines will be 40% cheaper and 50% lighter, which will further reduce installation costs. This will be a small revolution for a country that annually imports MRI-related goods worth 350 billion rupees.
Discussing with India Today Digital, Arunachalam noted that the creation of an MRI scanner is often compared to the production of jet engines or rockets. MRI machines are among the most expensive and technically complex medical devices, requiring years of research, large capital, as well as expertise in physics, electronics, software, and precision engineering.
Arunachalam fully understood the difficulties he would face. Specializing in MRI physics, he studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the USA and then spent about three years at the GE Healthcare research center in the USA around 2008–2009. It was there that he gained experience that would help in manufacturing MRI machines in India.
Afterward, Arunachalam moved to Singapore, and after brief teaching at IIT Bombay, he realized what concerned him. Arunachalam stated that he wanted to do something meaningful in India and stay here.
Instead of trying to copy existing manufacturers, VoxelGrids of Arunachalam started from scratch. He noted that large companies are constrained by regulatory frameworks, which prevents them from rapidly implementing innovations and changes. This became an opportunity for small players like them. Initially, Arunachalam planned for his company to only develop software for MRI visualization and artificial intelligence. However, existing manufacturers did not allow external parties to enter their systems. As a result, Arunachalam decided to build his own MRI machine.
Everything, from software to electronics, was designed by an in-house team that grew from four engineers to 33 people. Arunachalam told India Today Digital that the quality of their images is comparable to any MRI scanner, although their design is different.
