India’s push for a domestically developed medtech sector aims to lower care costs, enhance supply resilience, and position the country as a global affordable healthcare supplier, supported by new policies and ambitious industrial schemes.
India’s push to lower the cost of care is increasingly tied to a broader industrial ambition: building a domestic medical technology sector that can support both public health and economic growth. In an opinion piece published by Global Kashmir, Health and Family Welfare Minister J. P. Nadda argued that the country’s expanding hospital network, diagnostic capacity and primary care system have helped widen access to treatment, while recent government data reported by The Economic Times shows out-of-pocket health spending fell from 64.2% in 2013-14 to 43.4% in 2022-23.
That decline matters because medical devices sit at the centre of modern healthcare, from newborn monitoring equipment in district hospitals to imaging systems and implants used in specialist centres. The minister said the government is backing that shift through the Pradhan Mantri-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, which is intended to strengthen laboratories, critical care services, disease surveillance and emergency response systems across rural and urban India.
At the industrial level, the National Medical Device Policy 2023 set out a plan to make the sector more competitive and less dependent on imports. According to a policy summary from Drishti IAS, it includes regulatory simplification, medical device parks near economic zones and stronger support for research and innovation. The Department of Pharmaceuticals’ own materials also point to a wider policy package that combines the Production Linked Incentive scheme, medical device parks and the Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma-MedTech scheme.
Those schemes are intended to do more than attract factories. A Lexology analysis of the incentive framework says the PLI programme is designed to pull in investment and expand domestic production through greenfield projects and other qualifying facilities. The department’s guidelines on medical device parks describe an effort to create shared infrastructure with state governments and industry, while the PRIP scheme aims to build innovation hubs, centres of excellence and support for start-ups working on next-generation devices.
Nadda said more than 50 high-end medical devices have begun manufacturing under the PLI scheme, a sign that the policy push is moving beyond planning. India’s medtech market, now estimated at $15 billion to $16 billion, is the fourth-largest in Asia and among the top 20 globally, according to the article. The sector is growing at about 12% a year, making it one of the country’s fastest-expanding manufacturing areas.
The government’s argument is that domestic capacity can help ease prices, improve supply-chain resilience and reduce the financial burden on patients. It is also betting that India’s pharmaceutical base, engineering skills, digital public infrastructure and start-up ecosystem can support work in artificial intelligence, connected devices, robotics and remote diagnostics. The wider goal, as framed by the minister, is an Atmanirbhar MedTech ecosystem that serves India’s health needs while positioning the country as a global supplier of affordable, reliable medical technology.
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