Domestic manufacturers of medical devices seek govt support as West Asia conflict drives up input costs by 50%

The AIMED reached out to Piyush Goyal, seeking reliefs like rationalisation of inland haulage charges by the Container Corporation of India and fast track GST refunds as assured.

New Delhi: With the ongoing West Asia conflict adversely impacting the Indian medical device industry, domestic manufacturers on Monday sought the Union government’s help to tide over the crisis while assuring “no cause of concern yet” on the supply of high-volume items like syringes, catheters and disposables.

The Strait of Hormuz blockade and escalating Middle East tensions have driven up medical device input costs by nearly 50% for critical plastics and over 20% for packaging, the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry said in a statement. Rising PNG prices have added to the worries.

The AIMED reached out to Piyush Goyal, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, seeking reliefs like rationalisation of inland haulage charges by the Container Corporation of India and fast track GST refunds as assured.

India's medical devices industry depends on imports for specialised, high-grade polymers that meet stringent quality and regulatory standards.

The maximum quantities of medical grade plastics are imported from the European Union, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. These countries, in turn, depend majorly on West Asia for downstream raw materials, whose productions have reduced due to the crisis.

As a consequence, high-volume but essential items like syringes, nitrile gloves, catheters and plastic disposable medical devices are impacted.

“As of now, there are no shortages of syringes or other medical disposables. However, we are seeing substantial price increases, longer lead times, and highly elevated freight costs, which are pressuring cost structures and planning cycles,” said Rajiv Nath, forum coordinator, AiMED.

“While 1-3 week shipment delays were manageable via buffers, many manufacturers are needing to revise product prices by 10-20% to sustain operations,” he said, noting that the situation warrants close monitoring to safeguard production timelines and industry stability.

Other consequences include nearly doubling of PNG prices used for power generation and process heating with reduced availability. Supplies of LPG required by a few examination glove manufacturers as a heat source have also been disrupted.