Industry Odisha Bureau, Oct 17: India’s policy think tank met medical and dental device makers and officials on Wednesday. Industry body AiMeD sought a dedicated law, simpler approvals and financial support.
NITI Aayog has begun to explore policy measures to strengthen medical device manufacturing in India. Dental devices also fall within the review. The exercise remains exploratory, and no policy package has yet been announced.
The government’s think tank convened a broad consultation on Wednesday. Domestic medical and dental device makers attended the meeting. Officials from the pharmaceuticals, health, and science and technology departments joined them.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) was represented too. Experts from IIT Delhi and IIT Mumbai joined the discussions. E-commerce platforms trading dental devices were present as well. So was the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD).
NITI Aayog vice chairman Ashok Lahiri chaired the session. Discussions centred on regulatory hurdles, infrastructure gaps and cost disadvantages. Participants weighed regulatory, infrastructural and fiscal options to strengthen the industry.
In a presentation to the Aayog, AiMeD set out the industry’s main demands. It called for a dedicated law governing medical devices. It also sought simpler regulatory approvals and financial support for local makers. The stated aim is to help them compete with imported products.
A dedicated framework could give manufacturers clearer, more predictable compliance rules. Predictability matters because device plants demand heavy, long-term investment. Simpler approvals, however, cannot come at the cost of patient safety. These proposals remain industry requests, not government decisions.
AiMeD estimates Indian manufacturers face a 10–15% cost disadvantage against imported products. It blames high capital and energy costs, as well as logistics expenses. Limited access to risk capital and weak testing and research infrastructure add to the burden.
Costly finance raises the cost of buying machinery and expanding plants. Energy and freight bills lift operating expenses on every unit made. Limited testing capacity can slow product validation and quality certification. Together, these pressures make domestic devices harder to price competitively.
Regulation also weighs on the time needed to build new plants. Setting up a factory once took about 18 months, AiMeD said. It can now stretch to nearly four years, according to the association. The body cites multiple approvals, overlapping authorities and shifting requirements.
Longer timelines carry a real financial cost. Capital stays locked in idle projects while interest and overheads keep mounting. Uncertainty over rules can also deter fresh investment in the sector. Experiences will differ across projects, and the figures are AiMeD’s own.
The Aayog also sought avenues for collaboration between government and industry. Bringing officials, researchers and manufacturers together can expose bottlenecks that each side misses. Academic input from the IITs and ICMR could help align research with factory needs. None of this yet amounts to a formal partnership.
Any recommendations are meant to align with India’s healthcare priorities. Reliable domestic supply matters for hospitals and dental service providers alike. Faster approvals, cheaper capital and better testing could make Indian devices more competitive. Whether NITI Aayog’s review delivers that will depend on the final policy choices.
