Policy work underway at NITI Aayog centres on a broad set of interventions aimed at strengthening home-grown production of medical and dental devices, targeting regulatory bottlenecks, infrastructure shortfalls, and pricing pressures that place domestic manufacturers at a disadvantage.
A Wednesday session hosted by the government's policy research body brought together manufacturers of medical devices and dental equipment alongside industry representatives and relevant officials, with the agenda centred on cataloguing barriers the sector faces and evaluating pathways toward a stronger market position.
Representatives from the pharmaceuticals, health, science and technology departments, along with the Indian Council of Medical Research, gathered under the chairmanship of NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Ashok Lahiri. Representatives from IIT Delhi and IIT Mumbai joined the discussions alongside e-commerce platforms active in dental device sales and the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD).
Talks centred on mapping the obstacles facing domestic manufacturers and weighing the policy, infrastructure, and funding measures considered necessary to build a stronger medical and dental device sector in India. The process also aimed to identify areas where government and industry could work together and to shape recommendations that reflected the country's health priorities.
Through a formal submission to NITI Aayog, AiMeD outlined three policy requests for the medical devices sector: standalone legislation tailored to the industry, a streamlined path through regulatory approval, and targeted funding support to strengthen the position of domestic producers against foreign competition.
According to the industry body, domestic manufacturers operate at a pricing disadvantage of between 10 and 15 per cent, a gap driven by elevated capital and energy outlays, logistics costs, constrained access to risk financing, and gaps in testing and research facilities.
AiMeD additionally flagged concerns about an expanding compliance burden, pointing out that establishing a production facility had come to take considerably longer than in previous years. According to the industry body, bringing a new facility online now takes close to four years from groundwork to opening — a span that has grown from roughly 18 months — with multiple regulatory agencies, layered consent procedures, and requirements that can change partway through all contributing to the extended timeframe.
The sector has called for leaner oversight structures, stronger financial backing, and better infrastructure, with the stated aim of growing local manufacturing capacity and reducing reliance on overseas-sourced medical and dental equipment.
The consultation is anticipated to produce actionable recommendations aimed at identifying policy steps that could support domestic manufacturing, foster innovation, and widen access to medical technologies suited to the country's healthcare demands.
