# India’s medical devices sector struggles with limited local value addition 2026-08-18T19:11:15+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets Business Today reports that India’s medical devices market, estimated at $16.97 billion in 2025 and projected to grow to $28.85 billion by 2035, remains heavily import-dependent. A parliamentary committee flagged a $4.8 billion import-export gap in FY25, exposing the country to geopolitical and supply chain risks. The government extended its Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to 55 high-end devices, resulting in 22 projects, Rs 12,344.37 crore in sales, and Rs 5,869.36 crore in exports, but critical components like X-Ray tubes are still imported, limiting value addition to 40-50%. At a CII summit, Department of Pharmaceuticals Secretary Manoj Joshi said the sector needs more local value addition and component manufacturing, noting that many factories are “plain assembly line operations.” Joshi acknowledged that under the PLI scheme, many investors could not claim incentives and said the government is open to suggestions, including extending the scheme’s timeline. He urged component makers to aim for 40-45% domestic value addition and called for more product testing. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Business Today frames the story around patient experience and persistent import dependence, citing a parliamentary committee’s warning and industry calls for bold reforms. ET Healthworld leads with the government’s admission of limited value addition and its openness to fixing PLI gaps. The former emphasises structural failure, the latter focuses on policy responsiveness. Together, they show a government acknowledging implementation flaws while the industry points to deeper systemic issues. The measured takeaway: the PLI scheme has attracted investment but has not yet built a component ecosystem. Watch whether the government extends the scheme’s tenure to help stranded investors. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 1 pro-government, 1 government-critical - businesstoday.in (government critical) Leads with import dependence and a parliamentary committeeu2019s warning, foregrounds industry frustration over stunted localisation. - health.economictimes.indiatimes.com (pro government) Leads with the Secretaryu2019s call for more value addition and the governmentu2019s openness to fix PLI issues, presenting a responsive government. This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-21T15:00:50+00:00. Tags: AIMED, Indian Council of Medical Research, PLI scheme, Rajiv Nath Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/indias-medical-device-pli-shows-limited-success-despite-rising-demand/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/indias-medical-device-pli-shows-limited-success-despite-rising-demand/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/