• Notification Date: 16-01-2025
• Notification No: N/A

Medtech industry pushes for GST simplification, export boost, and price monitoring in Budget

The Indian medical device sector is preparing for the Budget with a long wish list, hoping for reforms that could ease business operations and enhance global competitiveness. Key demands include standardizing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate to 12% across all medical devices, improving export incentives, and monitoring the retail prices of imported devices.

The uniform GST rate is likely to further streamline the tax system. Industry leaders, including Poly Medicure Managing Director Himanshu Baid, have said that a uniform GST rate will make it clear and easier for businesses. Another demand that the sector has made is that the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme should be increased from 0.6-0.9% to 2-2.5% so that medical devices made in India can better compete globally.

Another concern is price control. Domestic manufacturers have been demanding that the government crack down on excessive retail prices of imported medical devices. Baid and other industry representatives argue that even with the efforts of reducing import duties, the high prices still burden the consumers, where some imported devices are sold 10 to 30 times the original price.

The Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED) is also expressing their concerns that it has not acquired the advantages of the concessionary duty rates on indigenous devices, and the Medical Technology Association of India (MTaI) is looking at a lower customs duty for the devices for which no domestic alternatives exist.

The Indian government has been urged by the industry players to extend and further strengthen the PLI scheme. This supports the local manufacturer while reducing import reliance. The medtech market of India stands at $12 billion, and the reforms would provide the necessary stepping stone to bring affordable healthcare as well as sustainable growth in the sector.