A webinar on ‘Medical devices and API sector – Challenges and emerging opportunities’ was held on 22 May 2020 for business and trade collaboration between India and Japan in the post-Covid-19 scenario. The webinar was organized by the Embassy of India, Tokyo, in partnership with the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India.
Sanjay Kumar Verma, ambassador of India to Japan, shared his thoughts on the golden opportunity for India and Japan to further boost their relationship with the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. PD Vaghela, secretary, Pharmaceuticals presented the sectoral view and the investment opportunities in India’s pharmaceutical and medical device industries. He also presented various initiatives taken by the Government of India to promote trade and business in the country. Navdeep Rinwa, a joint secretary, Pharmaceuticals explained the Department’s schemes to promote the manufacturing of bulk drugs and medical devices such as production linked incentive schemes and promotion of bulk drug or medical devices parks and requested the delegates to avail benefits of the schemes.
Pharmaceutical Traders Association and Japan Federation of Medical Devices Associations deliberated on the Post Covid-19 challenges and opportunities for pharmaceutical and medical device sectors and its impact on the global supply chain and suggested that cooperation between the two countries can contribute to stabilizing the supply-chain of specially active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and medical devices. Representative of JETRO Chennai also shared insights on challenges and emerging opportunities in the API sector and medical devices.
Mona KC Khandhar, minister – Economic & Commerce, EoI, Tokyo mentioned about the resilience and strength of the Indian economy and detailed on the stimulus and reform packages announced by the Government of India to address the Covid-19 crisis and to improve the investment environment. The advantages of the Indian economy, FDI ecosystem, and Japan-specific facilitation were also mentioned.
According to the press note, representatives of Japanese subsidiaries Nipro India and Eisai Pharmaceuticals India shared a detailed presentation and their experience about the ‘Make in India’ program. Representatives of major Indian Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Associations presented the future growth opportunities and way forward for Pharmaceutical and Medical Device industry in India.
Representatives of State Governments of Gujarat, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh and Goa offered finer details of the investment opportunities in their respective states including a package for incentives and tax benefits, ease of doing business initiatives, land availability, infrastructural facilities, regulatory framework and invited Japanese companies for investing in their respective states.
Representatives of Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone, Wockhardt, Sun Pharma, Panacea Biotec, and another large number of Japanese companies also participated in the webinar as part of G2B and B2B networking.
