Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: India’s medical technology (medtech) sector is set to get its first dedicated investment fund, which will also support the government’s ‘Make in India‘ push. A clutch of investors and industry veterans led by Ganesh Sabat, former CEO of SMT (Sahajanand Medical Technologies), a major cardiac stent player, are floating a Rs 1,000 crore growth-stage fund. So far, private equity investors and investment entities have focused on the broader healthcare space, as against backing the standalone medtech sector. In another first, govt could invest around Rs 500 crore in the fund, under its Research Development and Innovation (RDI) scheme. The fund, MedArtha Capital, recently secured Sebi approval, plans to deploy capital over the next two-to-three years, backing 10-12 small but high-growth medtech companies, its founder and managing partner Sabat told TOI.MedArtha Capital, with an eight-year life cycle, has submitted an application under the RDI scheme, which allows eligible entities to receive investment support of up to 50% of the total fund size, he added. The govt scheme, with a Rs 1 lakh crore corpus announced last year, is designed to spur investment in the R&D and innovation ecosystem.Positioned as a scale-up platform rather than an early-stage pool, the fund aims to support companies in the Rs 30-80 crore revenue bracket that require capital and operating expertise to expand manufacturing and compete in a market still dominated by imports, Sabat added. The segments include MRI machines, CT scanners, devices for cathlabs and neurovascular devices addressing stroke and heart failure– areas where India remains heavily import-dependent. The strategy also includes building contract development and manufacturing capabilities in the medtech sector, which is non-existent at present.
