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 The Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD) has urged the Central Government to consider raising import tariffs to 10 to 15% from the current 7.5%, adopt quality-based criteria in public procurement with preference for Indian Certification for Medical Devices (ICMED) certification over foreign approvals, and updating labelling norms to disclose domestic content percentage and incentivise local value addition, in the upcoming Union Budget 2026-27.
Commenting that the year 2025 has been a year of steady progress and purposeful engagement for India’s medical devices sector and applauding the Centre for its continued focus on strengthening the MedTech ecosystem, Rajiv Nath, forum coordinator, AiMeD said, "As we step into 2026, the focus must shift decisively towards consistent policy execution and deeper industry-government collaboration."
Key steps include raising tariffs to 10–15% from the current 7.5% to support domestic manufacturing, adopting quality-based criteria in public procurement with preference for ICMED certification over foreign approvals, updating labelling norms to disclose domestic content percentages, and incentivising suppliers with over 50% local value addition.
"These reforms, coupled with measures to enhance global competitiveness, can help India translate its capability, capacity, and credibility into lasting outcomes—positioning our nation as a leading global MedTech hub,” he added.
The Government of India has been focusing on strengthening the MedTech ecosystem through sustained policy dialogue and the growing recognition of medical devices as a strategic pillar of healthcare delivery and economic resilience. The year 2025 witnessed deeper engagement on the Medical Devices Policy 2023, alongside constructive discussions on regulatory predictability, domestic manufacturing capacity, and the urgent need to reduce import dependence in critical device segments, he averred.
For Indian manufacturers, particularly MSMEs, 2025 has laid the groundwork for a more balanced and enabling operating environment—one that prioritises quality, affordability, and trust while encouraging innovation and global competitiveness. AiMeD's have remained centred on advocating a level playing field, ethical procurement practices, and policy frameworks that support sustainable growth across the value chain, said Nath.
It may be noted that AiMeD has in the previous year also requested the government to increase the tariff and their components, in order to support the domestic manufacturing of medical devices. In its pre-budget memorandum in 2025, the Association also sought the Union finance ministry to withdraw the reduction of import duty on devices, since it is an effort of the government that is going in vain since the consumers/patients are paying 10-30 times of the import landed price of the devices.
Indian manufactures have the ability to cater to 1.4 billion people, and can have enough domestic production but sadly there is 70% import dependence in the field of medical devices. This dependence can be completely avoided if there is some reasonable protection for the domestic industry as provided for the mobile phone industry. The current scenario is against Indian manufacturers in every way, said AiMeD. Indian manufacturers are forced to become importers as it is cheaper and more convenient to import. Importers avail GST input credit which they were not availing in the pre-GST period. There is 6% Countervailing Duty and 4% Special Additional Duty now, while no such credit was earlier available to a trader.
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