Medical device makers have listed 12 products that have seen a surge in imports from countries including China – a side-effect from multiple factors including existing policies in the United States, an industry representative said, concerned that the ongoing tariff wars could exacerbate the situation.
Products including Opacifying preparations for X-ray examinations (imports up 35 per cent ); Dental Cement (up 29 per cent); Diagnostic Reagent Kits (up 23 per cent); Gloves (up 15 per cent); Linear Ultra sound scanner (up 39 per cent); Syringes and needles (80 per cent); Surgical tools (49 percent); Endoscope (up 22 percent); Oxygen therapy apparatus (36 per cent); Orthopedic/fracture apparatus (up 47 per cent), Hollow needles (up 62 per cent) and Computed Tomograph Apparatus (39 per cent) – have been listed by the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (Aimed), in their letter to the Department of Pharmaceuticals and the Department of Commerce, earlier this month.
The imports in most cases were from China, Germany, the United States and Japan, among others, the letter noted, citing Government data (April to November 2024).
The former US Administration under President Biden had take a tough view on products from China, and there was increased regulatory oversight, said Rajiv Nath, Aimed forum coordinator. “But tariff increases announced by President Trump could result in these countries looking to increase imports into markets like India, with low regulatory and low tariff barriers,” Nath told businessline, adding that it could harm the domestic medical device industry.
Imports spikes were also seen from Singapore (14.5 per cent), Hongkong (20 per cent) and Malaysia (23 per cent), the letter said, compared to 5 per cent, 0.5 per cent and 3 per cent respectively – “possible diversion of Chinese origin goods transiting through these countries to India to circumvent Indian CDSCO’s regulatory restrictions for Chinese goods as well as for circumventing DPIIT neighbouring country trade restrictions”, the letter noted.
The letter also noted Switzerland’s 53 per cent spike in imports from 8 per cent due to recent Free Trade Agreements (FTA) permitting tariff concession. Imports from Australia too were up 10 per cent from 3 per cent, due to FTA permitting tariff concessions, the letter said.
Exports concern
The development comes even as Indian medical device exports, including disposables, consumables,, electronics and surgical instruments saw a dip from 12 to 5.14 per cent, in certain markets.
The letter noted, that international prices in Africa and Middle East regions were depressed and alleged that Chinese products were “dumped due to excess capacity (since USFDA and Tariff restrictions for Chinese products to US market.” Other reasons included regulatory issues and costs involving renewal of the CE certification in the European Union, impacting sales to Germany, France, Netherlands and Turkey, the letter said, besides public procurement preferences to local products in Indonesia, among others.
