AiMeD lauds revised notice on medical devices PPO, says it will reduce govt’s import bill

New Delhi: The revised notice issued by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) regarding the Public Procurement Order on March 25, 2021, where they have incorporated 19 medical devices in the revised guidelines will boost domestic medical device manufacturing by strengthening “Make in India” and is estimated to reduce imports bill by approximately Rs. 4,000 crore. This was stated by the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD).

AiMeD has called the move a great relief to the 85 percent import dependence and an ever-increasing import bill of over Rs. 42,000 Crore.

Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, AiMeD in his comments mentioned, “This is a real boost to Make in India. This single strategic action will help boost domestic manufacturing imports bill reduction by nearly 10 percent so approximately Rs. 4000 Crore impact is foreseen. Many thanks to the Department of Pharmaceuticals for using the Public Procurement Order as a Make in India enabler while addressing the issue of pseudo manufacturers. Now actual manufacturers who do the real value addition and not just sticking labels or repackaging will get the gain of their investments in India.”

While MNCs and overseas global investors are very welcome to Make in India, the reality is that very few have made efforts to put up greenfield projects in the last 10 years and the ones that have done so and other Indian entrepreneurs who have bravely invested and competed with imports need to be applauded, read the AiMeD statement further.

We should be happy and celebrate that Government has acknowledged that the domestic players have grown large, achieved scale, and are able to succeed in supplying Global Markets and this has been amply demonstrated during Covid when Indian Manufacturers not only met local demand with good quality affordable products and kept their offices and factories working round the clock as cost of imports rocketed and supply went for a toss due to disrupted logistics. The day has arrived to remove the digressive Policies of encouraging and relying heavily on imports to meet India’s needs for Medical Devices,” said Mala Vazirani, Executive Director of Transasia, India’s largest IVD manufacturer and Jt Coordinator AiMeD, Legal Affairs.

“Covid has shown the spirit of Indian entrepreneurs to Make in India rather than import into India. When imports got disrupted, specific devices detailed with quantified production shortages and a focused Inter-Ministry Group coordinating with domestic manufacturers via AiMeD had addressed production bottlenecks and challenges so that not only capacity got utilized but also ramped up rapidly. This spirit needs to be fanned not doused by seeking roll back of these initiatives,” stated Rajiv Chibber, Vice President of SMT the leading stents & cardiac care medical devices manufacturer and Jt Coordinator Govt Affairs, AiMeD.

“The government needs to focus on Indian entrepreneurs and help them grow to be globally competitive. The fence-sitting competing MNCs will invest when they will start losing market dominance and wish to also avail the competitive advantage created for those who make in India eg – under the PLI scheme, PPO or PMP ( Phased manufacturing plan) – initiatives that AiMeD’s Make in India passionate members are thankful for,” argues Mr Nath while pointing out that other countries like the USA, China, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Uganda among others have clearly stated preferential procurement policies to support indigenous manufacturing. “Even World Bank encourages this by supporting a 15 % price preference for any indigenous products made in any country for any tender.”

While praising the Department of Pharmaceuticals for announcing various schemes to ensure the growth of a vibrant ecosystem of medical devices manufacturing in India, Mr Nath added, “The PLI scheme, PPO scheme, PMP scheme on X-Ray machines and its components and the setting up of medical device manufacturing parks in various states would provide a huge boost to domestic manufacturing.”