New Delhi: Indian Medtech leaders are happy about Union Budget 2024 passed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman in parliament today, though they desired some more for domestic medtech industry. They have called the budget a fillip to overall economic growth of the country. They have thanked the government for reducing duty on import of components of X-ray equipment.
The Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD) has called it visionary and progressive, which will give a boost to the country’s overall economic growth. In a statement, AiMeD Forum Coordinator, Rajiv Nath said: “The Union Budget-2024 is visionary and progressive. It will give a boost to the country’s overall economic growth. It reflects the determination of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to realize the goal of US $ 10 trillion economy by 2030 and Viksit Bharat by 2047.”
Mr Nath said: “Nine priorities of the government – productivity and resilience in agriculture; employment and skilling; inclusive human resource and development, and social justice; manufacturing services; urban development; energy security; infrastructure; innovation and research and development; and next generation reforms – will act as a catalyst for the country’s overall economy.”
Talking about the medical device industry vis a vis the Union Budget-2024, Mr Nath said: “We are thankful to the GoI for the reduction in duty on the import of components of X-ray equipment until these get to be produced in India. This enables continuity in investment in efforts to become a manufacturing hub of x-ray equipment globally.”
Mr Nath said that in a representation to Arunish Chawla, Secretary, DoP, dated January 19, 2024, AiMeD had raised the issue of increase in custom duty and removal of benefits for import of x-ray tube and flat panel detector under the Phased Manufacturing Programme (PMP). Since there are no domestic manufacturers available for these two critical components, the relief from the government is appreciable, added Mr Nath.
“We at AiMeD had, however, been hoping that the recommendations of Department of Pharmacy (DoP), which were backed by DGHS, would have helped on nominal duty increase on at least those medical devices that India had substantial manufacturing capacity as demonstrated during Covid-19 pandemic times,” said a despondent but hopeful Rajiv Nath.
“During Covid-19 pandemic, Indian medical devices showed its resilience in manufacturing syringes, masks, oximeters, oxygen concentrator and certain testing kits while the so-called world leaders were caught unawares. Removal of nil duty exemption on some of these medical devices would have acted as a further enabler for Make in India drive and enhance our global competitiveness,” added Nath.
It is worth mentioning that in a Pre-Budget memorandum, AiMeD had urged Finance Minister Sitharaman to consider a strategic hike in customs duty on medical devices to a nominal 10-15 per cent to foster a more balanced trade environment, encouraging domestic manufacturing and reducing reliance on imports, which currently still constitutes a staggering 70 per cent of the sector.
“The imports of medical devices are consistently over Rs 61,000 crore for the last three years and regretfully this year have increased by 13 per cent to Rs 69,000 crore,” said Nath, while flagging the issue of prevailing inverted duty structure.
To address this, AiMeD has proposed the implementation of a 5 per cent health cess on custom duty for the remaining medical devices as this was earlier applied to a limonite’s medical devices and this health cess was used to fund resources for Ayushman Bharat.
Hailing budget as fillip to India’s continued economic growth, Mr Ganesh P Sabat, CEO – Sahajanand Medical Technologies Ltd & Co-Chair FICCI Medical Devices Committee, in a statement said, ‘The Union Budget 2024 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman a crucial step towards ensuring India’s continued economic growth and development in the next 5 years to come as we inch towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The ‘Nine Priority Areas’ — Agriculture, Employment, Inclusive Development, Manufacturing and Services, Urban Development, Energy, Infrastructure, Innovation and R&D, and Next Generation Reforms are well curated to boost infrastructure development, create employment opportunities, and reduce the urban-rural divide while promoting digitalization, Health-tech benefits and stimulating economic growth in the manufacturing industry with an emphasis towards Research and Innovation. The announcement of 12 new industrial parks under the National Industrial Corridor, focusing on creating integrated zones, is expected to significantly revise manufacturing growth whilst meeting the rising job demands through the transformative boost in the education sector.
He added further, ‘ From the MedTech industry, while we go through the final nuances and allocations in the budget document, however the focus on cancer care drugs, puts back to flash the need for India to do more towards Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) especially when it comes to areas like cardiac care where India is inching to become the disease capital globally. This will not only motivate us to sustain innovation but will also attract more investments in research and development of newer product therapies ensuring patient safety, better outcomes and give a boost to the Made-in-India for the World as we set our goals towards ‘Viksit Bharat’ 2047.’
Dr Rajiv Chhibber, Joint Coordinator AIMED said, ‘ The Navratna’s (Nine) Priority Areas of Agriculture, Employment, Inclusive Development, Manufacturing and Services, Urban Development, Energy, Infrastructure, Innovation and R&D, and Next Generation Reforms coupled with a boost towards sustainability, education, skilling, employment and greater emphasis on Ease of Doing Business will certainly provide the necessary fillip to the economy and chart course for transforming India into ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047. The focus on Cancer drugs renews the criticality of NCDs especially cardiovascular disease and related disorders for which India can be a critical partner with quality manufacturing already happening in country. This is opportune and significant against the backdrop of rising disease demographic dividend and the rapidly changing healthcare needs globally, ensuring that India can be a quality manufacturing hub and a key exporting nation when it comes to medtech.’
