India’s ambition to become a global MedTech export powerhouse is justified. With engineering depth, cost competitiveness, and policy initiatives such as PLI, the foundations are visible.
Exports have crossed roughly $4 billion. But this ambition must be accompanied by institutional realism.
Nations, like companies, are judged by what they export. In medical technology, they are often judged only once. You do not get two bites at the cherry in this industry. A faulty textile shipment may be forgotten. A delayed electronics consignment can be renegotiated. But a compromised medical device, even once, imprints on global memory.
The route to that ambition is therefore not paved with factories alone. It is paved with credibility.
Regulatory Credibility Is the Real Export Passport
Medical devices do not cross borders merely because they are manufactured efficiently. They cross borders when regulators trust the quality systems, when clinicians trust the data, and when hospitals trust the continuity.
Regulatory approval in the US, Europe, or Japan reflects years, often decades of audited systems, post-market vigilance, and regulator engagement. Global MedTech firms carry this regulatory capital through internationally benchmarked quality systems. When Indian manufacturing aligns with such globally recognised systems, market entry becomes faster and more predictable. In MedTech, regulatory credibility is the real export passport.
Distribution Networks Create Export Scale
Even after regulatory approval, a second barrier remains: commercial access.
Hospitals buy through established systems; surgeons adopt through familiarity and peer validation; reimbursement shapes demand.
Global MedTech leaders have built deep hospital relationships, multi-country distributor networks, reimbursement expertise, clinician training systems, and after-sales service infrastructure. These are strategic assets built over decades.
Rebuilding them country by country is possible but slow and capital-intensive. When Indian-manufactured products integrate into existing global distribution systems, scale accelerates across geographies. Volume follows network. Network follows trust. In this sector, distribution is export infrastructure.
Installed User Ecosystems Drive Adoption
Medical devices are trust-based products. Surgeons rely on familiarity, performance data, and peer experience. Hospitals value reliability and service continuity.
Global firms possess installed equipment bases and long-standing clinical ecosystems across continents. When Indian-made products flow through these trusted channels adoption is easier because clinical trust already exists. Exports in advanced markets are sustained by confidence not by price alone.
India Already Demonstrates the Model
In certain product categories, companies such as B. Braun manufacture a significant share of global supply from India – in some ranges, up to half of worldwide volumes.That scale was achieved because Indian production is embedded within globally recognised regulatory systems and worldwide commercial networks.
The factory is in India. The talent is Indian.
The regulatory credibility is global. The distribution network spans continents.
The clinical ecosystems are internationally embedded.
It is this integration that enables export scale without compromising reputation.
Manufacturing Is the Foundation. Integration Is the Multiplier.
India must continue strengthening domestic manufacturing. Without production depth, exports cannot grow. But factories without global regulatory integration and commercial connectivity risk confining exports to lower-regulated, price-sensitive markets.
Countries that became leading MedTech exporters did so by embedding themselves within global value chains, leveraging multinational regulatory credibility and distribution strength. Over time, domestic capabilities deepened.
Strategic self-reliance in high-technology sectors does not mean isolation. It means building capability through integration.
The Way Forward: Leading With Our Best
If India is to be welcomed, not merely accommodated in global MedTech markets, it must lead with its highest quality offerings.
Many global MedTech companies operating in India manufacture world-class products from Indian soil. Their presence brings regulatory depth, quality discipline, and global market connectivity.
These partnerships can place the wind beneath the wings of Indian MedTech exports. Policy frameworks such as the National Medical Devices Policy (NMDP) and initiatives by Export Promotion Council for Medical Devices (EPCMD) increasingly recognise this dual current- domestic capability and global integration, working together.
If India aligns its manufacturing strength with global regulatory platforms and commercial ecosystems, a $20–30 billion export future becomes realistic.
Without a collaboration between the global and local exporter from India, the export ambition will remain incremental. With it, India can move from being a large domestic market to becoming a trusted global supplier of medical technology.
The article is written by Pavan Choudary, Chairman Medical Technology Association of India (MTaI).
(DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETHealthworld.com does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETHealthworld.com shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organisation directly or indirectly)
