Indian Medical Devices Sector – Opportunity to Grow Exponentially

The medical devices industry in India consists of large multinationals as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) growing at an unprecedented scale. The current market size of the medical devices industry in India is estimated to be $11 bn. India’s medical devices industry is poised for significant growth in the next five years. The market size is expected to reach $50 bn by 2025.

India has anoverall import dependency of 75 – 80% in India 100% FDI is allowed under the automatic route for both brownfield and greenfield setups. In the year 2018-19 imports amounted to $6.2 Billion and exports were $2.1 Billion which is likely to reach $10 bn by 2025.. The Government of India has taken several steps to ensure the growth of a vibrant ecosystem of medical devices manufacturing and has recognized Medical Devices as a sunrise sector . There is heavy funding for Medical Devices parks in the country now which is expected to reduce the manufacturing cost of medical devices in the country and increase employment opportunities in this space.

Medical Devices follows the Medical Devices Rule of 2017. The medical devices have been adopted on risk-based classification: Classes A, B, C, D. The Medical Devices Amendment Rules of 2020 bring all medical devices in India under regulation as drugs.

Areas of Medical Devices

Medical devices are segregated into six major segments:

1. Consumables & Disposables include needles and syringes, etc

2. Diagnostic Imaging includes MRI, X-Ray, Ultrasounds, etc

3. Dental Products includes dentures, braces, etc

4. Orthopaedics & Prosthetics include knee implants, artificial joints

5. Patient Aids include hearing aids and pacemakers, etc

Around 65% of the manufacturers in India are mostly domestic players operating in the consumables segment and catering to local consumption with limited exports. Large Multinational Corporations lead the high technology end of the Medical Devices market with extensive service networks.

Opportunities For Employment

There are 750 – 800 domestic Medical Devices manufacturers in India, with an average investment of $2.0–2.7 million and an average turnover of $6.2-6.9 million. The manufacturing is developing in its scale and geography: there are six medical devices manufacturing “clusters” in the country. Clusters have “Medical Device Parks” developing around them: Indian states have committed to set-up dedicated industrial parks where efficient domestic manufacturing at lower costs. In 2019, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala have got in-principle approval from Government of India for new medical devices parks.

There are good opportunities and growth in the areas of R&D, manufacturing, testing, sales and services. Student from various streams of engineering and management, Pure Sciences, Bio Technology, Bio Medical, may find lot of opportunities to build careers in medical devices