India's Medical Tech Exports Poised to Reach USD 20 Billion by 2030

India's medical technology sector is projected to reach exports worth USD 20 billion by 2030. The industry body CII mentioned that in order to boost international shipments, the sector requires more government incentives and improved ease of doing business.

Himanshu Baid, chairman of the National Medical Technology Forum at CII, stated that the PLI scheme should be expanded to cover more medical devices in the sector, and manufacturers should receive export incentives to offset additional costs.

"Today, we are importing almost 60 to 70 per cent of our medical equipment which are needed in the country. Whereas, our manufacturing is still very low as around 30 per cent is only manufactured in the country. Our imports are far exceeding our exports. Our imports are almost USD 8 billion and our exports are close to USD 4 billion," he said.

Nevertheless, Baid mentioned that India possesses significant potential to advance this sector to the next stage, capitalizing on the global shift towards the 'China plus one' approach to diversify import sources. India is in a great position to benefit from its talent in software, hardware, and low labor costs when compared to China.

On the export potential of the Indian medical technology industry, he said, "My expectation is that by 2030 India's exports can reach around USD 15 billion to USD 20 billion dollar and our imports would reduce from USD 8 billion to USD 3 billion-USD 4 billion."