Govt’s new medtech scheme will help domestic players: AiMeD

According to Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, Aimed, the move will give up pseudo manufacturing and restart actual production: AiMeD

The Rs 500-crore MedTech scheme announced by the government will help the domestic players in the medical equipment industry to restart manufacturing and even become exporters. They had become mere traders and resorted to pseudo-manufacturing due to the prevalent market compulsions and harsh realities.

Domestic medical device manufacturers have hailed the move by the government and said that the new Medtech scheme will provide the much-needed fillip to address the skill shortage problem in the industry and strengthen export opportunities for these equipment and devices from India. 

"We are delighted with the announcement made by Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers JP Nadda for giving impetus to manufacturing of medical devices. The domestic players who had become traders and importers and shifted to pseudo manufacturing will now be again motivated to become actual manufacturers and produce complete products and their components in-house," said Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, Aimed.

"The budgetary allocation announced by the government in this scheme may seem small and humble but this is ground-breaking strategy will have a multiplier impact and it is a clever leverage to move the Indian elephant in the direction of achieving the Prime Minister's vision to make India the leading hub of medical devices manufacturing globally, as announced in the national medical devices policy to 2023," added Nath. 

The current export of medical devices from India stands at $3.7 billion, making India the fourth largest market in Asia. The current market size is $14 billion but the Medtech scheme introduced by the government will help the Indian manufacturers to seize the potential to achieve a market size of $20 billion by 2026-2027.

The Medtech scheme introduced by the government encompasses key aspects of manufacturing of medical devices like skill development, clinical study assistance, establishment of shared infrastructure and promotion of the industry at national and international stages.

Minister Nadda described the scheme as a transformative initiative that will benefit the industry while promoting India’s journey toward self-reliance in the medical equipment domain.

Under the scheme, the government will offer financial support to medical device clusters to establish common infrastructure like R&D labs and design and testing centres. It will also strengthen the Medtech supply chain by encouraging local manufacturing of essential components.