Medical device major Skanray's Make in India struggles

Make in India should come as good news to this indigenous medical equipment manufacturer. But it only adds to the various challenges it's already facing in the market. Skanray shook up the industry with its massive L&T acquisition in late 2012 - today, though, with dipping revenue and a changing market, it's not looking so good

Mysuru-based Skanray spent its initial years from 2007 to 2011 in R&D

More than a decade later, a slew of acquisitions later, its revenue today stands at Rs 220 crore. There's been a significant fall

The Indian medical device market is dominated by MNCs, trading companies and aggregators

With a credit crunch, Skanray's being forced, against its DNA, to avoid bank debts and embrace PE to get working capital

Earlier this month, Niti Aayog, the Indian government’s think tank, held a high-level meeting, with the secretaries of all stakeholder ministries—including the Ministry of Health—present. The agenda was simple. Boost the local manufacturing of medical devices—currently a $10 billion market.

India’s medical devices market is the fourth largest in Asia—after Japan, China and South Korea—and is projected to grow to $50 billion by 2025, as per industry estimates. However, while there are over 6,000 types of medical devices available worldwide, barely one-sixth of them are made in India.

AUTHOR

Suraksha P

Suraksha writes on Healthcare and Pharma. She has been a journalist for five years, reporting for The New Indian Express in Bengaluru and Chennai, and The Times of India, Delhi. In her previous stints she has written on health, civic issues and education. She investigated cover up of corruption in the state health department’s think tank, narrated harrowing tales of women who underwent unwarranted hysterectomies, and wrote about how loss of biometrics came in the way of Leprosy patients getting an Aadhaar card and thereby pension. She can be reached at suraksha at the-ken dot com.

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