The revised notice issued by The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) on the Public Procurement Order on March 25, 2021, where they have incorporated 19 medical devices in the revised guidelines of the PPO will boost the domestic medical device manufacturing by strengthening “Make in India” and is estimated to reduce imports bill by approx Rs. 4000 crore.

This comes as a great relief to the 85% import dependence forced upon India and an ever increasing import bill of over Rs. 42000 Crore.

Mr. Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, AiMeD said, “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 / overseas global investors are very welcome to Make in India, reality is that very few have made efforts to put up green field projects in last 10 years and the ones that have done so and other Indian entrepreneurs who have bravely invested and competed with imports in an ecosystem that’s favoured imports and made India over 85% imports dependent need to be applauded. 

“It’s expected of any responsible government to have strong policies to promote Growth and expansion of their own Industries that create Jobs in every sector in the long term interests of their own Citizens.

GOI is doing just that what the Government of every great country we admire does.

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 all days practically round the clock as cost of imports rocketed and supply went for a toss due to disrupted logistics; but Domestic Manufacturers  were able to supply to the world  in addition to meeting greater domestic demand, thereby demonstrating that Indian Medical Device Industry has come of age. The day has arrived to remove the digressive Policies of encouraging and relying heavily on imports to meet India’s needs for Medical Devices.” Stated Mrs. 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 Mr. Rajiv Chibber, Vice President of SMT the leading stents & cardiac care medical devices manufacturer and Jt Coordinator Govt Affairs, AiMeD. 

Govt. needs to support the ones who have invested and allow other fence sitters to make up their minds in due course as many members of importers associations though claiming to be voice of Industry have neither put up green field factories nor will encourage those of us who continue to do so and discourage any steps taken to protect these initiatives and investments by crying wolf that these would discourage FDI and deny patient access.

Large scale FDI did not happen in medical devices since duties fell to zero or 5% or when there was no PPO or there were zero regulations or second hand imports were not restricted so holding this as a threat is meaningless. 

“Govt. 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” said Mr. Nath.

“The Govt. is not here to deny access to public healthcare for medical devices so if there are no class 1 suppliers, exceptions will be made for permitting class 2 suppliers to bid – until then, class 2 may standby and consider to increase domestic content to 50% by making in India under PLI or PMP rather than importing into India” Explained Mr. Nath.

Other countries like the USA, China, Russia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Indonesia, Uganda etc 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 being financed by World Bank / ADB etc

Did MTAI which mainly represents the interest of importers lobby ever take up the cause of Patients access to affordable quality home grown healthcare with the Govt. when exclusionary clauses are cleverly inserted in tenders of seeking USA FDA approval & thereby denying affordable access to patients & market access by Indian manufacturers who may not be initially seeking to sell in USA & US FDA certification?

“We are thankful to The Department of Pharmaceuticals for announcing various schemes to ensure the growth of a vibrant ecosystem of medical devices manufacturing in India. The PLI scheme, The PPO scheme, the 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. 

Such supporting policies are needed and need to be expanded to other medical devices so that Indian Medical Devices Industry can make quality healthcare accessible and affordable for the common masses. PM Shri. Narendra Modi’s call for self-reliance and an Aatmanirbhar Bharat will not only see India emerging as a manufacturing superpower but will also strengthen India to vie for being the 2^nd factory in world for Medical Devices & a dependable Manufacturer of quality products in the Global supply chain. We have shown the ability and capability of Indian Entrepreneurs to Make in India when we have the support of Govt.” Concluded Mr. Rajiv Nath.