India’s medical device industry seen touching $250 billion by 2047: FICCI-DUA report

India's medical device industry is expected to grow multi-fold to touch $250 billion by 2047, up from the current size of $ 14 billion, says a just released report prepared by industry body FICCI and DUA Consulting.

The White Paper on ‘Service and Maintenance of Medical Equipment in Indian Healthcare – Towards a Safe, Reliable and Sustainable Medical Device Maintenance Ecosystem’ estimates India's medical device sector to , reach $30-50 billion within this decade. Rising healthcare demand, increased adoption of advanced medical technologies, government support for indigenous manufacturing and the country's ambition to become a global med-tech hub are the likely drivers of this rapid growth.

According to the White Paper, India has made significant progress through initiatives such as the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme and the Strengthening of Medical Devices Industry Scheme, which have enhanced domestic manufacturing capabilities and improved India's global competitiveness. However, the report stresses that sustained growth of the sector will depend not only on manufacturing but also on creating a world-class ecosystem for servicing, maintenance, calibration and lifecycle management of medical equipment.

The report highlights that medical equipment today forms the backbone of modern healthcare, supporting timely diagnosis, emergency response, surgeries and advanced treatment. It argues that the value of these technologies extends well beyond procurement and depends on reliable servicing throughout their operational lifecycle. Proper maintenance, the report says, improves patient safety, enhances clinical effectiveness, reduces equipment downtime, extends equipment life and optimises healthcare investments.

According to the report, an estimated 30–40% of medical device maintenance in India is conducted by unregulated service providers and 45% of surveyed tier-2/3 hospitals used such providers in the past year. It also notes that there is no national certification pathway for service engineers and no registry against which credentials can be verified- with documented cases of misdiagnosis and intra-operative equipment failure traced to uncertified servicing and counterfeit parts.

To address these issues, the White Paper proposes a risk-tiered hybrid maintenance framework anchored in the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) device classification system. It recommends maintenance protocols based on device risk categories, creation of a national certification architecture for service engineers, strengthening technical training, encouraging commercial model innovation, and rationalising the fiscal framework to promote compliant maintenance practices. The report also advocates wider adoption of digital technologies, including predictive maintenance, digital monitoring and lifecycle management systems, to improve equipment reliability and minimise downtime.

The report presents a comprehensive roadmap for creating a safe, transparent and sustainable medical equipment maintenance ecosystem.