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After the initial hiccups, the Department of Pharmaceuticals has recently put the ball rolling for the full-fledged functioning of the Export Promotion Council for Medical Devices (EPC MD). After dilly-dallying for some time, the DoP has now appointed members to the Council. The Committee of Administration of the Council is headed by R S Kanwar, CMD of Allengers Medical Systems Ltd, Dr Arun Vir Singh, CEO of YEIDA as Vice Chairman, officials from the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Department of Commerce and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, along with various industry representatives and industry association representatives from AiMeD, ADMI, MTaI and NATHEALTH. The new Council will be headquartered in the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority Greater Noida (YEIDA), Uttar Pradesh with regional offices in Andhra Pradesh (in AMTZ, Visakhapatnam) and Telangana (in Hyderabad). The EPC MD was announced by the Centre in September, 2022 and the Union Health Ministry had officially launched the Council in May, 2023 during the 8th International Conference on Pharma and Medical Device Sector in New Delhi. Since then, the DoP has been dragging its feet to commence the full-fledged operations of the Council owing to teething troubles. The new Council, which will have an exclusive focus on the implementation of trade-related initiatives and easing of trade issues in the medical devices sector, is being set up on the lines of Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil), which played a key role in promoting exports of pharmaceutical products. Pharmexcil’s role in boosting the pharmaceutical exports from the country is now well known. No doubt, the formation of this dedicated Council will act as a catalyst in transforming India into a global hub for medical device innovation, manufacturing and exports, and is expected to be the next biggest success story after IT and Pharma.
Of course, the government’s recognition of the need to establish an exclusive export promotion council for medical devices industry, separate from Pharmaceuticals, is significant as the strategic needs for the medical devices sector are different from the well established pharma industry in the country. Surely, the new export promotion council exclusively for the medical devices sector will spur global market entry and will encourage domestic medical devices players to enhance quality standards and production capacity. India currently exports Rs. 31,672 crore ($3.7 billion) of medical devices with a growth of 14 per cent over the previous year. The top five countries India currently exports medical devices are to USA, Germany, China, Netherlands and Brazil. However, with almost 80 per cent of the medical devices demand in the country is met through imports, the government and the medical devices industry are looking at various methods to improve domestic manufacturing and increase the exports from the country. Of course, the DoP’s efforts to operationalise the new Council is a welcome step as this strategic step will go a long way in accelerating the exports of medical devices from India. The government’s new initiative will be music to the ears of the manufacturers of medical devices in the country, as it will definitely help exporters in promoting their products in international markets. There can be no doubt that medical devices sector is a sunrise sector which holds vast potential for innovation and economic growth. With the establishment of EPC MD, India now has a focused institutional mechanism to drive exports and boost domestic manufacturing.
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