In a bid to boost the medical device and pharma machinery sector, the central government is setting up a medical device testing laboratory near Ahmedabad, opening at least five incubation centers across the country for research and development (R&D).

Officials from the Union commerce ministry, in a meeting, stated that there are plans to set up at least five incubation centers across the country, each at a cost of around Rs 100 crore that would help R&D activities.

Mr Sudhanshu Pandey, joint secretary, ministry of commerce and industry, government of India said, "Such incubation centers would help scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs who can pay a certain fee and use the center's infrastructure. This could be a huge boost to R&D and product development, as there would be no need to set up a full-fledged R&D facility by each company."

There are also plans to set up testing laboratories across the country to test medical devices. This could ease the process of certification and, in turn, boost export prospects for Indian players. Ahmedabad, which is one of the hubs for medical devices and pharma machinery manufacturing in the country, is likely to get a testing laboratory.

The ministry of commerce is also planning to set up a panel with representations from different streams like medical devices, pharmaceutical machinery etc. under EEPC India (formerly the Engineering Export Promotion Council).

India's $3.5 billion market for medical devices and equipment is dominated by imports, which account for 65 percent share of medical devices.