Centre invites new applications under incentive scheme for production of medical devices

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The central government has invited new applications under the Production-Linked Incentive Scheme to promote domestic manufacturing of medical devices. The scheme has now been extended until 2035-36. An outlay of approximately Rs 2,700 crore available under the scheme will be used for this purpose. Applicants will be able to apply through an online portal, which will be launched within the next 10 days.

Under the Medical Device Production Incentive Scheme, launched in 2021-22, domestic manufacturing of more than 60 high-end medical devices and their components has commenced. These include X-ray tubes and detectors, 1.5 Tesla MRIs, linacs, CT scanners, mammography machines, cathlabs, orthopedic and cardiac implant devices, and dialyzers. Medical devices worth more than Rs 16,000 crore have been produced under this scheme so far.

Applicants will be given three years to set up their manufacturing units in one of four target segments: medical consumables, disposable products and implantable devices (TS-1), critical components (TS-2), high-end medical devices where domestic manufacturing is currently in the initial stage (TS-3), and high-end medical devices where domestic assembly is currently only required (TS-4).

The phased-down incentive rate will be on average about 5 per cent for TS-1, about 9 per cent for TS-2 and TS-3, and 6 per cent for TS-4.

Special attention will be given to developing large-scale manufacturing capacity and world-class quality in the medical consumables and disposable products segment. Value chain integration will be prioritized in TS-3 and TS-4 to enhance the overall competitiveness and quality of domestically manufactured medical devices.