New Delhi: Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare virtually inaugurated 27 greenfield bulk drug park projects and 13 greenfield manufacturing plants for medical devices on March 02, 2024.
Addressing the gathering, Dr Mandaviya said, “Medicines are an essential requirement for any society. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the dangers of supply chain getting affected, the risks of being highly dependent on imports of critical resources like bulk drugs and medical devices and its potential effects on India’s pharma and MedTech sector led to a lot of brainstorming within the Union Government. The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme is a result of these wide-ranging discussions.”
India is amongst world’s fastest emerging Medical Device market with exports from the sector growing steadily at a CAGR of around 14% since FY 2019-20. The market for medical device industry in India is currently estimated to be of the size of US$11 billion and it is expected to cross US$30 billion mark by 2050.
The Medical Device Sector in India suffered from cost of manufacturing disability vis-à-vis competing economies, inter alia, on account of lack of adequate infrastructure, domestic supply chain and logistics, high cost of finance, limited design capabilities, low focus on research and development (R&D) etc.
In order to mitigate the limitations affecting the sector, with an objective to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investment in Medical Device Sector, the Department of Pharmaceuticals had launched a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Promotion of Domestic Manufacturing of Medical Devices to ensure a level playing field for the domestic manufacturers of medical devices.
The total financial outlay of the Scheme is Rs. 3,420 cr. for the period 2020-21 to 2027-28.
Under the scheme, financial incentive is given to selected companies at the rate of 5% of incremental sales of medical devices manufactured in India and covered under four Target Segments of the scheme i.e. (1) Cancer care equipment, (2) Imaging Devices, (3) Critical care devices, and (4) Body implants.
Total 26 applicants have been approved for 138 products under the scheme. Investment of around Rs. 875 crores have already been grounded towards capacity creation under the scheme.
Dr Arunish Chawla, Secretary; Dept. of Pharmaceuticals said that when the PLI scheme came in, India imported 90% of medical devices. After the introduction of the PLI scheme, the net imports of medical devices decreased for the first time in 2023.
Details of medical devices plants:
| Sl. No. | Applicants Name | Product | Location of Projects |
| 1 | Panacea Medical Technologies Private Limited | Linear Accelerator (LINAC), Rotational Cobalt Machine | Kolar, Karnataka |
| 2 | Philips Global Business Services LLP | MRI Coils | Taluka KHED, Pune, Maharashtra |
| 3 | Siemens Healthcare Private Limited | CT Scan and MRI | Hosur Road, Bengaluru |
| 4 | Wipro GE Healthcare Private Limited TS 2 | CT Scan, Cath Lab and Ultrasonography | Bengaluru, Karnataka |
| 5 | Trivitron Healthcare Private LImited | X Ray Equipment, C-Arm, mammography and Ultrasonography | Raigad, Maharashtra & Vizag, A.P. |
| 6 | Allied Medical Limited | Anaesthesia workstation, Anaesthesia Unit Gas Scavengers, Anaesthesia Kits, Masks —Anaesthesia, Anaesthesia Unit Vaporizers, Anaesthesia Unit Ventilators, Automated external defibrillators (AEDs), Bi- Phasic Defibrillators, Infusion pumps – Syringe and Volumetric, etc. | Karoli, Alwar, Rajasthan |
| 7 | Microtek New Technologies Private Limited | Oxygen Concentrators | Baddi – Solan Himachal Pradesh |
| 8 | Nipro India Corporation Private Limited | Dialyzer | Satara, Maharashtra |
| 9 | Poly Medicure Limited | Dialyzer, Dialysis Machine, Peritoneal Dialysis kits, Fistula, Blood Line and Transducer Protector | Faridabad, Haryana |
| 10 | Majik Medical Solutions Pvt Ltd | Catheter Tubing (Cardiovascular) Micro-Catheter Tubing (Neurovascular) | Hyderabad, Telangana |
| 11 | Envision Scientific Private Limited | Stents and PTCA Ballon Catheter | Sachin, Surat, Gujarat |
| 12 | Innvolution Healthcare Pvt. Ltd. | Stents | Jaipur, Rajasthan & Vizag, A.P |
| 13 | Sahajanand Medical Technologies Private Limited | Stents, PTCA ballon Catheter | Surat,Gujarat and Sangareddy, Telangana |
The inauguration of the above 13 Greenfield plants will be a big step towards achieving self-reliance in manufacturing of wide range of medical devices. With a wide base of scientists, bio-medical engineers, and a growing innovation ecosystem in the country, the India MedTech sector is poised to grow rapidly. Indian manufacturers are continuously innovating. Indigenous development of cancer care equipment, such as Linear Accelerator for radiotherapy and evolved coronary stents, under the PLI scheme, are illustrious example of the same.
