Precision manufacturing technology will give edge to indian surgical instrument market

A huge market of precision surgical instruments had started surging in India during late 90s. India has become one of the top countries in Asia to import the surgical instruments where about 90% of sophisticated medical devices consumed in India are being imported which goes to show immense scope for medical device manufacturing.Core applications of such precision tools are Neurosurgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Wound Closure, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Cardiovascular, Orthopedic and lot moreother surgeries. Various innovations and newer applications are changing dynamics of this industry day-by-day.

India holds fourth rank as after Japan, China and South Korea where many countries are eyeing India as place to set up their own manufacturing facility to serve bigger markets in Asia, some such are 3M in Pune, Philips which has acquired Medtronics and Alpha X-ray Technologies. 

It is also interesting to note that quite recently, the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Government of India, has sought comments from various stakeholders for its proposal that domestically sourced components have to contribute 25 – 50 percent of the cost of medical devices procured by the Government, depending on the category of the device. This would further aid the industry in indigenous production as purchase preference shall be given to local suppliers.  Apart from this, Government of India has also permitted 100 automatic foreign direct investment in medical device manufacturing segment.

The Indian medical devices industry is currently sized at around US$ 5 billion which is 6.9% of the USD 72.6 billion Asia/Pacific industry size. The overall healthcare industry in India is valued at USD 160 Billion which is expected to reach USD 280 billion by the year 2020. Thus India’s medical devices, surgical equipment and pharmaceutical industry are promising to grow significantly in the coming years and will emerge as cost effective supplier to the whole world.There are about 1800 domestic firms in the country, mainly MSMEs which are competing in the range of low to medium technology products.

According to the government reports, the key market shares of Indian medical device market in 2016 are divided into these major categories where diagnostic imaging is contributing 36% market share, consumables 19%, patient aids 9%, orthopedic prosthesis 8%, and dental products contribute about 4% of total market share.

Global medical devices market is anticipated to reach a value of USD 435.8 billion by 2020, according to a ITA Medical Devices Top Markets Report 2016. As per industry sources, this is expected to grow at 7.8% CAGR year on year. Experts say, increasing number of minimally invasive surgeries is anticipated to accelerate the market growth. Road accidents, treatment of chronic diseases, increasing trend of plastic surgeries etc. are other trending causes to raise the demand for surgical instruments.

India has a huge potential to overcome from being a trader dependent to innovative and precision manufacturing entity in surgical equipments market. By reducing import and producing cost effective high-end products, country will be able to save a huge cost on healthcare spending. However, during last few years, Indian government has succeeded in attracting many Swiss, German, Japanese and US companies and many of them have shown keen interest in setting-up their manufacturing base in India.

In recent past new players have made entries in this segment such as SRM Technologies (Switzerland) has done JV with RUJ Group(Jaipur); likeMAG Industrial Automation Systems (USA) has set-up a subsidiary in India; Heller (Germany) has formed JV with TAL Manufacturing Solution; Glidemeister (Germany) Sets up tech centre in Bangalore; Schuler (Germany) has enter in JV with and Indian Company; MAUS (Italy) formed JV with TAL Manufacturing Solutions; Rosa Ermando (Italy) Enters into JV with UCAM of Bangalore to set up manufacturing facility in India.

Demand of precision manufacturing for surgical instruments industry is nearly untouched and being fulfilled by traders who are mainly importers. At RS India’s Jaipur plant, the manufacturing processes and techniques like up to 5Axis Milling, Turning, Swiss Type Turning, Surface-, Cylindrical- and Center less grinding, Punching, Laser cutting, Bending,Vacuum Heattreatment, Anodizing (Aluminum & Titanium both), Plating, Powder coating, Assembling and Assembling under Clean Conditions is installed and available for all types of precision machining and assembly as required for B2B manufacturing.

By Mr. Jayant Joshi, Managing Director, RUJ & SRM Mechanics Pvt. Ltd.