Medical Devices Market in India

In this webinar by Indo American Chamber of Commerce (IACC), we explore the opportunities for global companies in the medical devices market in India.

About India-USA relations

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and President of the United States Joe Biden have struck a strategic partnership in healthcare for COVID-19 management. This includes:

• sharing the knowledge base
• strengthening economic and bilateral relations
• partnerships across clean energy and defense sectors
• cooperation for regional and global issues

An overview of the Indian Healthcare Industry

India lags behind the US in terms of hospital beds availability and GDP expenditure. At present, it is worth USD 199 Billion in 2020, growing at a CAGR of 17-19% towards USD 400 billion in 2024. Its major growth drivers include:

• The healthcare industry received FDI worth USD 25.35 billion between 2000-2020
• Investment in upgrading infrastructure and expansion of hospitals for more beds and equipment
• Consumer’s changing lifestyles and new disease outbreaks
• Growth in old age and middle-class population
• Consumers today are educated about preventive healthcare and rising income is leading to an increase in demand for services and monitoring devices

The growth story of the Medical Devices Sector in India

“The overall business environment, R&D, startup ecosystem, skilled human resources and future market potential in India is conducive for further expansion of medical devices companies to cater to not only the domestic environment but also export medical devices to several other key regional markets.”

- Amit Kumar

India received USD 81 billion worth of FDI, aims to sustain its growth as predicted by IMF and World Bank by focusing on:

• Simplifying FDI regulations, labor laws
• Tax benefits like 15 years tax exemption for medical device technology products
• Withdrawing from non-essential sectors
• Strengthening the manufacturing sector for which production linked incentives worth USD 3.75 billion are made available. It also includes only 15% corporate tax and 20-25% CAPEX investment for plants and machinery.

Under these incentives, USD 490+ million is reserved for boosting manufacturing in the medical devices sector, which also comes with the following benefits:

• There is low penetration of medical device usage in India, expected to grow 4x from USD 11 billion to USD 50 billion by 2025
• 100% FDI is allowed via automatic route for both brown and greenfield projects
• Insurance benefits under Ayushman Bharat for 500+ million people in rural India will increase demand for medical devices
• Vibrant startup ecosystem focusing on medical robotics, automation, mobile-tech and improving accessibility and affordability of medical devices.

Patenting support is also being provided to medical device businesses to protect their innovations. Some useful measures include:

• Indian Patents Act 1970
• Drug and Cosmetics Act 1970
• Medical Devices Rule 2017 covers classification of devices, clinical investigations, license validity, post-market surveillance, and quality certification requirements.

Patentability depends on the novelty, technical advancement made and commercial use case. While medical treatment /diagnostics, simply rearranging multiple devices/processes or software/algorithms are non-patentable.

Some emerging trends in the Indian Medical Devices space include:

• Wearable technology for personal health and fitness
• Medical robots for precision surgery or automation
• Using the Internet of Things (IoT) for connected care and monitoring
• 3D printed medical devices for rapid diagnostics

Supporting the industry with Medical Device Parks

Setting up a greenfield, integrated industrial park for the Medical Devices and Technology sector can help businesses thrive together. One such 350 acres park is at Oragadam Industrial Hub near Chennai. The idea is to create a one-stop place for supporting the entire value chain of the sector via:

• Plug and play units
• Regulatory services
• Industrial plots
• Common support facilities
• Skill development center
• Testing labs
• Venture funding

Watch the webinar to understand how Tamil Nadu aims to become a hub for the Medical Devices industry via its various policies, MediParks, and support services.