Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya has interacted with representatives of Japanese medical devices companies in Tokyo and invited them to take advantage of opportunities in India.

“The medical devices sector is an essential and integral constituent of India’s healthcare sector. The sector’s contribution became even more prominent as India supported the domestic and global battle against the COVID-19 pandemic through large-scale production of medical devices & diagnostic kits,” Mandaviya told the Japanese representatives on Tuesday.

Mandaviya noted that the medical devices sector has the potential to grow from its current size of USD 11 billion to four times by 2030.

He further stated that “backed by growing healthcare needs and govt’s commitment to facilitate growth, Indian medical devices industry has the power to emerge as the global leader in manufacturing and innovation in the next 25 years and we are committed to its growth and progress to become self-reliant and contribute towards the goal of universal health care in line with India’s G20 Presidency mantra of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future'”.

India allows 100 per cent foreign direct investment under the automatic route for both Greenfield and Brownfield setups. To boost domestic manufacturing, the government had launched the Production Linked Incentive Schemes for medical devices with financial incentives worth USD 400 million.

“To support our investor community, govt has also approved the establishment of 4 Medical Devices Parks in the states. These Parks will significantly reduce manufacturing cost, optimize resources, build on economies of scale, and provide easy access to standard testing and infrastructure facilities.”

The Union Health Minister concluded his address by emphasizing that “with rapid strides in innovation, India is now on a momentous journey to take on the global arena in the sphere of medical devices and technologies” and invited Japanese Medical Devices companies to take advantage of these opportunities to “Make in India”, “Innovate in India”, and “Discover in India”.