Rising “indirect imports” from China coupled with falling exports have prompted domestic medical device manufacturers to seek intervention from the commerce minister Piyush Goyal. In a letter to Goyal, the association of Indian medical device industry (AiMeD) has said that the imports of medical devices from countries like Hong Kong (28%), Malaysia (24%) and Singapore (13%) have shot up in the period from April 2024 to January 2025 due to the likely diversion of Chinese-origin goods transiting through these countries to India.
“The imports from these countries have surged in order to circumvent regulatory restrictions from Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Chinese goods as well as to circumvent trade restrictions imposed by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on neighboring countries,” said Rajiv Nath, forum coordinator at AiMeD.
The letter said that the excess capacity in China is also hurting international prices of medical devices, especially in regions like Africa and Middle East. “Globally, the prices are under a lot of pressure as Chinese products are being dumped due to excess capacity. This is due to the restrictions being imposed by USFDA and other tariff barriers being put in place by the US government on Chinese devices,” Nath said.
The association has urged the minister to safeguard the sector by removing zero and 5% “concessional duty” on medical devices, and has also asked for a minimum 7.5% on all medical devices. “If imports keep rising at the current pace, it will become unviable to Make in India.
The sector is facing a double whammy of rising imports and declining exports. For instance, the exports growth in the April 2024 and January 2025 averaged 6%, which was significantly lower than 12% growth in FY24.
Even though the growth in overall imports of medical devices between April 2024 and January 2025 (8.86%) is almost at the same levels as in FY24 (9%), data shows that 11 product categories have witnessed 15% surge in imports in the April 2024 and January 2025 period. This include endoscope, syringes and needles, linear ultra sound scanners, oxygen therapy apparatus, orthopedic apparatus, dental cement, etc.
Currently, India imports over 70% of its medical devices from foreign suppliers. Experts said that despite the government’s push on reducing this dependence, the progress has been slow. In January this year, the CDSCO prohibited the import of refurbished medical devices due to a lack of specific regulations.
“Ensuring balance and protection of vulnerable sector like medical devices is important to ensure healthcare security of India and that economic benefits can be widely felt by the entire community,” the letter said.