New Delhi: Imports of medical devices into India has grown around 13 per cent during the fiscal year 2023-24, with the growth in the imports of disposables growing almost 17.6 per cent as compared to the previous year, according to data from Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD), the umbrella association of Indian manufacturers of medical devices.
The import of medical devices during the fiscal year 2023-24 stood at Rs. 68,885 crore as compared to Rs. 61,179 crore imports in the previous fiscal year. It may be noted that the imports during the 2022-23 was a decline of 3.31 per cent from the Rs. 63,276 crore reported in the previous fiscal year.
The imports grew almost 65 per cent in five years, from Rs. 41,709 crore registered in 2019-20, according to the data.
Among the six categories in the medical devices segment, disposables reported 17.63 per cent growth in imports to Rs. 4,090 crore during the fiscal as compared to Rs. 3,477 crore during 2022-23.
Import of electronics equipment to the country has grown 14.5 per cent to Rs. 44,132 crore during the year, as compared to Rs. 38,540 crore imports during the previous year.
Implants import has gone up 11 per cent to Rs. 5,087 crore in 2023-24 as compared to Rs. 4,580 crore in the previous fiscal year. The imports of consumables in the sector has seen 8.37 per cent growth to Rs. 7,430 crore during the fiscal year as compared to Rs. 6,856 crore in the previous year. IVD reagent import reported seven per cent growth to Rs. 6,477 crore in 2023-24, as compared to Rs. 6,053 crore reported a year ago.
Imports of surgical instruments, however, registered a marginal decline to Rs. 1,670 crore as compared to Rs. 1,674 crore in the previous year.
The country reported exports of Rs. 31,673 crore, with the highest exports in the electronics and equipment segment at Rs. 12,120 crore followed by consumables with Rs. 9,978 crore exports, disposables with Rs. 5,128 crore, implants with Rs. 2,096 crore, IVD reagent with Rs. 1,694 crore and surgical instruments with Rs. 657 crore, added the industry association.
The Association has requested the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to increase custom duty, correction of inverted duty structure and trade margin capping in the upcoming Union Budget 2024-25, to support growth of domestic manufacturing.
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