India's medtech industry goes local to develop high-end equipment

According to the Department of Pharmaceuticals' annual report for 2024-25, India imported medical devices worth $8.1 billion, while exports stood at $3.7 billion in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24)

 

With 80 to 85 per cent of the country’s needs for medical devices currently being met through imports, both the Indian government and medtech manufacturers are looking to accelerate projects to indigenously develop high-end equipment.

 

Taking steps towards this, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (Aiims), New Delhi, last month announced its plans to install the country’s first indigenously developed 1.5 tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine by October this year. The project is to be trialled in partnership with the Society for Applied Microwave Electronic Engineering and Research (SAMEER), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Electronics