VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog emphasised that India has learnt positive lessons from the pandemic and the MedTech industry has the potential to drive substantial innovations.
Published Date – 06:36 PM, Fri – 6 October 23
New Delhi: India’s medtech industry is expected to grow four times in the next few years to reach USD 50 billion by the end of this decade. The 15th edition of Global MedTech Summit 2023, organized by the industry body Confederation of Indian Industry was held in the national capital on Friday, themed ‘Paving the Way for a USD 50 Billion MedTech Industry by 2030’.
Jitendra Singh, MoS (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Science and Technology; Earth Sciences; Prime Minister’s Office; Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy and Space in his inaugural address highlighted the importance of partnership between the public and private sectors for the MedTech Industry to develop.
In order to get India, global recognition, he emphasized the need for stakeholders in this space to adopt the robust benchmarks and global best strategies.
VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog emphasised that India has learnt positive lessons from the pandemic and the MedTech industry has the potential to drive substantial innovations.
To all the stakeholders present at the event, he highlighted the need to develop robust quality standards, mutual trust and investment in Research and Development for the industry to thrive.
He also mentioned that the focus of future development can be in: Point of care diagnostics equipment, Assistive technology, IoTs to track & prevent fire is the health setups, devices to track sick patients in ambulance, Different wearable devices to track and prevent illness.
S Aparna, Secretary, of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers in her address highlighted that the dependency of India on medical device imports has been reduced over the last three years, signifying the growth potential. She also remarked that the MedTech industry is currently heterogeneous and there is a need for it to become more coordinated and cohesive like the Pharma industry.
She suggested all the stakeholders go through the National Medical Devices Policy which has recently been approved. She apprised the stakeholders of the PLI scheme, 2021 with an overall outlay of 5000 crores and informed them that a huge fund is still available for smaller companies in this space.
Naresh Trehan, Chairman of CII National Council on Healthcare, and Chairman & MD, Medanta – The Medicity mentioned that the present gap between the users and the manufacturers of the Medical Devices sector is still wide. He advocated the focus on delivering quality, by emphasizing on involvement of clinicians in innovation, and Research and development from the early stage.
Trehan said India, which is emerging as a global power, large steps, rather than small strides are required to strengthen its healthcare continuum.
According to a review of India’s Department of Pharmaceuticals, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in the pharmaceutical sector (in both pharmaceuticals and medical devices) in India was Rs 12,097 crore in the financial year 2021-22.
Government data showed FDI inflows maintained their momentum into the current financial year.
Currently, FDI is permitted up to 100 per cent under the automatic route, which essentially means the non-resident investor or Indian company does not require approval from the government for the investment in the hospital sector and in the manufacture of medical devices. In the pharmaceutical sector, FDI is permitted up to 100 per cent in greenfield projects and 74 per cent in brownfield projects under the automatic route.
