MTaI urges Govt to reduce GST on medical devices

The organisation has also sought allowance of tax computation on CSR expenditure, tax holiday to medical device research and development centres, creation of budgetary provisions for skilling and up-skilling of healthcare workers (HCWs) at all levels and expand the width of healthcare insurance.

"The government is looking at improving healthcare affordability in India and spreading its benefit to as many as possible. However high customs duties, burden of additional health cess, lack of incentives for R&D in the medical device sector and un-streamlined tax regime, need to be addressed first," MTaI Chairman Pavan Choudary stated.

The high customs duties have adversely impacted the costs of products in India which contradicts the government's efforts to provide low-cost healthcare to the masses through ambitious schemes such as AB-PMJDY, he added.

"Additionally, since the custom duty regime on most medical devices in neighboring countries of Nepal, Sri-Lanka, and Bhutan is lower than in India, the duty differential could lead to the smuggling of low-bulk-high-value devices," Choudary noted.

The result will not only be loss of revenue for the government but also the patient being beset with products which are not backed by adequate legal and service guarantees, he added.

"We feel the customs duty for medical devices and equipment should be brought down to 0-2.5 per cent," Choudary stated.