India is showcasing its strengths in the healthcare and medical devices sector at Arab Health 2018, scheduled to be held from January 29-February 1, 2018 in Dubai. EEPC India and Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) are leading the contingent of around 100 Indian companies. India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) is the branding partner for India’s participation.
The Arab Health Exhibition & Congress is the largest healthcare exhibition & medical congress in the Middle East and Second largest in the world. The Event offers important opportunities to build relationships within the healthcare industry, to showcase progress and achievement in the sector, and to explore new opportunities with stakeholders in the healthcare field.
In total, more than 4000 exhibitors from various countries are expected to participate at Arab Health. The related professionals will get to come across, Medical Technology, Laboratory Equipment, Diagnostics, Physiotherapy and Orthopedic technology, Commodities and consumer goods for hospitals, Information and communication technology in healthcare, Surgical Products and services, Facility management, Medical disposables, Healthcare building technology, Medical services, Radiology, Consulting services in healthcare, Cardiology, Medical Publications.
Healthcare has become one of India's largest economic sectors in India - both in terms of revenue and employment. The overall healthcare industry in India is valued at USD 90 Billion which is expected to reach USD 220 billion by 2020. The medical devices, surgical equipment and pharmaceutical industry has been increasingly playing an enhanced role in helping healthcare practitioners to provide better diagnosis and treatment to patients. The industry is poised to grow significantly in the coming years and emerge cost effective supplier of the products to the whole world.
The Indian medical devices industry is a sunrise segment in the healthcare space. The industry is currently valued at around USD 10 billion and has been growing at an average rate of 15 per cent for past couple of years. It is strongly believed that growth will outperform the current pace, resulting in the Indian medical device market reaching close to USD 25 billion by the year 2025. The industry has close to 1,800 domestic firms who are predominantly MSMEs, primarily competing in the range of low to medium technology products. However, in recent years there has been a paradigm shift in the manufacturing landscape which have now expanded to produce more cost-effective and high end products.
The Indian systems of medicines AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) are among the most ancient systems of medical treatment, of the world. The country has the largest number and best of doctors in the world. Medical tourism has been gaining momentum as well as India has been providing medical and health care of international standard at low cost with no waiting period for various medical processes and unique services. The country targets 8 million medical tourists by 2020.
The Government of India has been proactive in boosting the Indian healthcare industry. One such step is the opening up of the sector to foreign investors with roll-out of positive foreign direct investment norms in the sector. Another step forward has been setting up of Medical Techno Parks with the purpose to reduce cost of production as these parks will have in-house manufacturing units and facility for consolidated raw material procurement. The Indian Certification for Medical Devices (ICMED) Scheme was introduced to bring down the substantial time and cost-run to obtain globally accepted quality certification for Indian companies. India has been growing as the key market for medical devices and diagnostics due to its acquired relative strengths in manufacturing and exports leading to improvement in product quality and price control making healthcare more accessible and more affordable.
The medical devices, surgical equipments and pharmaceutical machineries have emerged as the ‘Sunrise Sector’ of India due to its high growth potential in terms of domestic manufacturing and global exports. The industry is currently valued at around USD 10 billion and has been growing at an average rate of 15 per cent for past couple of years. It is the 4th largest market in Asia with indigenous products contributing 20-25 per cent to the overall market share. It is strongly believed that growth will outperform the current pace, resulting in the market reaching close to USD 25 billion by the year 2025.
Analysing the trends in the global market, there are ample opportunities for growth in contract design and development of medical devices. One where companies in the US and Europe offload a whole range of existing medical device products to India to maximise the cost advantage. India has been proving to be a reliable and dependable source for this capability. The second trend has been that global companies look at India as a hub in the Asian Region to undertake contract design, develop, manufacture and package the medical devices. International companies have been using India as manufacturing base by either setting up facilities of their own or by acquiring domestic manufacturers. Some examples include 3M's manufacturing plant in Pune, Becton Dickinson's manufacturing facility in Haryana, Hollister setting up manufacturing facility and Philips Medical Systems' acquisition of Medtronics and Alpha X-Ray Technologies.
All this has been possible due to the inherent strengths which are highlighted as follows:
India has steadily widened the ambit of markets and now exports its medical devices to more than 150 countries. There is a growing awareness about sunrise sector and Government of India extends full support in promoting exports of the sector.
The Indian medical devices industry has emerged as a sunrise segment in the healthcare space. With focus on technology, innovation and a conducive regulatory framework, this sector has the potential to grow in leaps and bounds and attract substantial investments.
Overall, the Government of India has played an important role in providing crucial initiatives for enhancing the capabilities of the sector by the following initiatives:
The Government of India has taken several initiatives in its various other flagship programmes including Make in India, Skill India, Digital India etc that are also working towards creating a strong positive ecosystem for medical devices manufacturing in India. In addition, the rapid progress made under the Ease of Doing Business in India also adds up to the overall conducive business environment prevalent in the country.
The Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India has launched the brand campaign for the Medical Devices sector as part of the Brand India Engineering campaign. It aims at creating true brand value in international markets for Indian medical devices and is expected to catapult India’s status in manufacturing capabilities, by highlighting India’s competitiveness, credibility & service commitments in the medical devices sector. India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), a Trust established by the Department of Commerce and EEPC India, an apex national body representing engineering industry, is steering the campaign in coordination with national associations & industry stakeholders in the medical devices sector.
India is already known for its largest number and best of doctors in the world, the strong foothold in the medical devices manufacturing sector will only further improve India’s reputation in the global healthcare sector.
