Government policy think tank, Niti Aayog is all geared up to boost production of medical devices in India. In its meeting held on Wednesday, the organisation discussed mull measures like tax-based incentives and caps on distributor and retailer margins, as reported by sources.
The meeting was held under the chairmanship of regulatory body’s CEO Amitabh Kant. A person concerned with the matter informed that the Niti Aayog is currently working on proposals o incentivise domestic manufacturing of medical devices following orders from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Another crucial matter discussed in the meeting was to bring down prices of medical devices as opposed to capping their maximum retail prices.
One of the sources said, The government is looking at amending the Drug Prices Control Order for medical devices and the intention was to go by the trade rationalisation route.
Additionally, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has been assigned the duty to collect data in India regarding differences between ex-factory or landed price of various devices and their MRPs.
The sources have also cited that the government body is also looking to create a separate act to regulate medical devices apart from the current Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
India’s medical industry is estimated at $5.2 billion where about 70% of the country’s medical devices are met through imports.