The medical device industry wants the Union Government to frame policies and regulations that will encourage the manufacturers. It also wants the Centre to remove anomalies in import duty on finished goods and raw materials.
G. S. K. Velu, Convenor, Healthcare Council, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), and Managing Director, Trivitron Healthcare, has stated that the taxes levied on an imported finished product are only 9.6 per cent. The import duty on raw material, however, is around 24 per cent.
These policies and regulations favour traders more than any manufacturer.
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The import content in the Rs.30,000-crore medical device industry is nearly 80-90 per cent. Only 10 per cent is manufactured within the country. Of this, Rs.30,000 crore, nearly Rs.15,000 crore comes from medical equipment and the balance from medical consumables.
Mr. Velu cites the China is the second largest country in the world, manufacturing medical equipment, which has encouraged MNCs and domestic manufacturers, by providing higher tax benefits.
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On Trivitron Healthcare, he said the company planned to set up a centre to train qualified personals such as para-medical staff, doctors and engineers on medical devices.
The proposed Trivitron Medical Equipment Skill Development Centre would be housed at the Trivitron Medical Technology Park at Sriperumbudur in Chennai. The company has three manufacturing units — one each in Chennai, Pune and Mumbai. It is producing products such as ultrasound, colour Doppler's, X-ray machines and medical accessories.