Medical devices industry distressed over Budget 2023 announcements

The Indian medical devices industry has the potential to reach $50 billion by 2030, the Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya, had said in 2022. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Indian medical devices industry has expressed disappointment over what they believe is a tokenistic 2023-24 Budget announcement of plans for skilling human resources in the sector.

“It is against the industry’s expectations. The government has not announced any measures to help end the 80-85% import dependence forced upon India, and an ever-increasing import bill of over ₹63,200 crores,” said Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED).

Atmanirbharta or self-reliance in medical devices is far off as imports continued to grow at an “alarming” rate, industry players said. India imported medical devices worth ₹63,200 crore in 2021-22, up 41%, from ₹44,708 crore in 2020-21, as per data from the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

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Mr. Nath further said that domestic industry players are shutting shop as the local industry cannot compete with cheaper Chinese imports. Imports of medical devices from China went up by nearly 50% last year from ₹9,000 crores to ₹15,000 crores, on account of low duties and convenience to import. “These are the same domestic manufacturers, which the government relied heavily on, to meet the rising demand of essential COVID items when imports got disrupted,” Mr. Nath said.

The players are also asking to shift from an 8 Digit HS (Harmonized System) Code to a 10 Digit HS Code policy as done by USA and Europe for more granular data, to enable better analysis and policy making. They want a reduced GST and trade margin monitoring, to help consumers get affordable access to devices.

Mr. Nath further said, “If the government implements even 70% of the recommendations made by the Parliamentary Committee on Health, we could have seen a reversal on the import dependence and growth of the domestic industry. We request the kind consideration of the Indian government for encouraging domestic manufacturing to be sustainable in the long term, to become Atmanirbhar.”

The Indian medical devices industry has the potential to reach $50 billion by 2030, the Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya, had said in 2022.