India’s medical device industry is facing unprecedented spikes in prices of critical plastics, diesel and gas, along with shipment delays under the West Asia war, which members say could disrupt production and cause potential hospital shortages.
The Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED), representing domestic manufacturers, has warned that the war and the blockade at the Strait of Hormuz “are beginning” to affect “cost structures, supply chain stability, and operational continuity of manufacturers”.
The most vulnerable are those producing essential and high-volume items such as syringes, catheters, nitrile examination gloves and other disposable medical devices, AIMED’s coordinator Rajiv Nath wrote in a letter sent to the Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Monday.
AIMED’s letter highlights how disruptions in West Asia are reverberating across India’s industrial sectors, particularly those dependent on global supply chains. The country continues to rely on imports of specialised, medical-grade polymers that meet stringent performance and regulatory standards, making manufacturers especially vulnerable to delays and price volatility.
Nath said the industry is experiencing nearly 50 per cent rise in prices of critical plastics used in medical disposables and 20 per cent rise in prices of packaging materials and diesel-based self-generating power. Manufacturers also face limited availability and near-doubling of piped natural gas prices, which is used for process heating and power generation.
“At present, there is no shortage of syringes or other medical disposables and no cause for public concern,” Nath wrote. “However, manufacturers are experiencing price escalations, longer lead times, and elevated freight and logistics costs,” he added. Some glove manufacturers are facing liquid petroleum gas shortages, he said.
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has stopped the passage of around 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas since the US and Israel began airstrikes on Iran on February 28.
Nath said some manufacturers have revised product prices by 10-20 per cent to sustain their operations.
India imports medical-grade plastics from the European Union, South Korea, Japan or Taiwan, but AIMED members worry that some of these supplies rely on West Asia for downstream raw materials.
“For now, there are no shortages, but costs are rising and some members are experiencing delayed deliveries of raw materials,” Nath told The Telegraph. “Manufacturers remain at risk of disruption if our plastic suppliers do not get feedstock replenishment from their West Asian suppliers and have limited alternative suppliers outside of West Asia.”
AIMED, while underscoring the supply-chain challenges its members are facing, has urged the Centre to adopt several measures to stabilise domestic production and prevent market distortions. The association has requested the public-sector Container Corporation of India to maintain charges at cost-covering levels, avoiding opportunistic increases during this period of global disruption. It has also requested that the supply cap for piped natural gas be made available on a weekly rather than daily basis to enable continuous plant operations.
It has urged the Centre to fast-track pending goods and services tax refunds, particularly those arising from last year’s rate reduction, noting that delays are creating acute working capital pressure under the inverted duty structure, where manufacturers pay 18 per cent GST on inputs but charge only 5 per cent on finished devices.
