Indian lab equipment manufacturers are currently in a situation where they are neither low cost compared to Chinese nor very advanced like Europeans and Americans. Thus making a mark in  in terms of quality and price is a very challenging task . They need to work to break this ice and be on top according to Mr Amit T. Marfatia,Director, Electrolab, leading manufacturer of pharmaceutical testing equipment and peristaltic pumps.

The big problem with customer mind set in India is they want European / American quality with Indian or if possible Chinese price. While they are ready to give a premium on price to European machines, they are  still not ready to give a premium to local lab equipment manufacturers.

Local equipment manufacturers must put big thrust on R&D to come out with high quality equipment. “We should not forget that in spite of having a huge market, no Indian company is manufacturing HPLC, GC, LCMS in India. Entrepreneurs must come forward to take up the challenge of manufacturing such high quality machines here ” , he adds. 

According to him introduction of high-end technology has provided a unique opportunity for the local manufactueres. If the imported manufacturers are introducing high-end technology,then the Indian companies should also know how to get that technology in their machines.

“Since the Indian customer has become more quality conscious, there is a good chance to get the price for the technology from the customer. Until a few years ago, no one would have imagine that there will be surge in demand. High quality machines are required in labs than ever before”, he says.

While the neighbouring Chinese government is giving a lot of subsidies to their manufacturers  and promoting them for exports, there is no such support to local manufacturers from the Indian Government, he added.

Talking on the prospects for the lab equipment market in India and global markets in 2010,

KV Venugopalan, president Waters India, one of the largest lab equipment companies in the world says, “We are experiencing a strong rebound in our business in India this year driven mainly by the pharmaceutical industry. As the economy recovers and the industry readjusts to the difficult time that they have experienced last year, we are seeing investments happening in capital equipment that could benefit lab equipment market in India as well as around the world”.

“Our business is recording double digit growth which itself is a visible trend of the recovery. Besides we are seeing improved results from our customers across the board and their commitments to ramp up capital purchase to catch up with the lost time in 2009. Though the optimism is cautious, trends are positive” he adds.According to him the lab equipment suppliers in the country is facing a number of challenges.

Most of these companies manufacture and supply high technology equipment. Since some of those technologies are so advanced and continue to evolve, getting highly qualified and experienced engineers and chemists are one of the biggest concern of the Industry. Since these technologies are not taught in colleges, the manufacturers have to conduct extensive training programmes to ensure their employees are capable of supporting scientists who are users of these equipment. In fact in Waters a technical employee undergoes more than 25 days of training every year.

Since the market is not very big for lab equipment in India ( less than US $ 1.5 billion) and the number of players are too many, there is intense competition and severe price erosion as a result. This will hurt marginal players in the long run and is not good for the Industry.

According to Amit Sharma, general manager, sales & service, biotechnology division, Sartorius Stedim India Pvt. Ltd," the global recession or slow down did impact the lab business segment quite significantly especially in the Govt. funded labs which usually contributes nearly 50 per cent of lab products sales for most companies. There was reduced spending on equipments and even lesser on consumables. Projects grants were shelved or postponed. The R&D labs

of biotech companies, however had moved ahead with their plans .

“Perform or perish is one of the key lessons of the recent slowdown and therein lies the understanding of the trends of the near future. As a researcher, you have to work on time bound and serious projects. As a supplier you have to be prepared to support the customers with shorter delivery times and more value for money (not necessarily meaning cheaper products)”, said Sharma.

“We  hope to see more collaboration between customers and vendors on their respective areas of expertise thus shortening the development cycles and thereby the costs”, opines Sharma.