“Made in India” Ventilators can be Freely Exported Now – DGFT

The DGFT had banned the export of surgical and disposable face masks and raw materials used for making the masks and all types of ventilators in view of the growing number of cases of COVID -19 in India.

 

The ban on ventilator exports had been imposed on 24/03/2020 to ensure domestic availability to effectively fight COVID – 19. After 4 months of the export ban on the Ventilators, the Group of Ministers on COVID – 19 has agreed to the proposal of health and family welfare ministry to allow the export of made in India Ventilators.

As per the Government, there has been substantial growth in domestic manufacturing capacity of the ventilators. At present, there are 20 domestic manufacturers for ventilators. On 14th May PM cares Fund decided to allocate Rs 3,100 crore to fight with current pandemic & from which 2,000 crores was allocated specifically for the purchase of 50,000 Made in India ventilators. Out of 50,000 ventilators, 30,000 were manufactured from Bharat Electronics Ltd and the remaining 20,000 are being manufactured by AgVa Healthcare.

In India, the main ventilators manufacturers are – Skanray Technologies in Mysore, AB Industries of Vadodara, Air Liquid Medical Systems of Chennai, New Delhi-based AgVa Healthcare, Mumbai-based AVI Healthcare, Ahmedabad-based LifeLine Biz, and Thane-based Medion Healthcare.

The manufacturing capacity of ventilators increased from 5,500-5,750 units per month to 50,000 ventilators per month. As per the health ministry report on 31st July, only 0.22 % of the active cases were on ventilators across the country, which means fewer numbers of active cases are on ventilators.

Hence, DGFT Amended the export policy of Ventilators as per Notification no. 23/2015-2020 Dated 4th of August 2020,
Notification no. 53 Dated 24.03.2020 is amended to the extent that all ventilators including any artificial respiratory apparatus or oxygen therapy apparatus or any other breathing appliances/device are made free for export.
As per below Notification from Government.

Now the government expects that the domestic ventilators would be in a position to find new markets in foreign countries with the ventilators export having been allowed.

Export Incentives can also be claimed for the export of ventilators under the MEIS Scheme.