|
Mr. Amit Dave,
M. Pharm, MBA,
Former CEO - Brazil Operations/ Vice President Export
– Zydus Cadila/Claris Lifesciences |
Though necessary,
Regulatory laws are not easy to implement, and
certainly involve cost, manpower & time. It may happen
that a manufacturer is cent percent confident about
his product quality and can vouch for his products
though documented proofs may not be available due to
some practical reasons stated above, and therefore,
prefer a situation where registration hassles are
avoided.
In this case, is it
possible to select some countries for Medical Devices
export where Registration laws are loose and simple
import permit or guarantee of quality will work?
There are 195 countries
in the world, and 49 countries from this list do not
have Regulations for Medical Devices!! Your strategy
may focus on these countries.
A sceptical mind will
think that these must be small to very small
countries. Partially right. Some are small (like
countries with less than one lakh population). But
there are some which have more than one crore
population too. Total population of all these
countries together is more than 14 crore!! |
This article lists such countries.
Few more important helpful suggestions
The list also mentions approximate location of the
countries. This will help clubbing countries where small
countries, which are nearer, when clubbed, can become a
large market. A good example is Caribbeans and North
American islands. Since they are individually small, it
is advisable to treat them as a group. You will also
find distributors who operate in more than one country
as these distributors also need larger market to cater.
Some of these countries have made their laws somewhat
loose because of Covid situation and they have not gone
back to stricter regimen as of now. A quick exploration
at this time may help.
How to start
A very useful way is to attend some international
seminar or conference which is relevant to the
manufacturer exporter, and also network with
distributors there. Many of these countries have now a
high image of Indian quality, mainly because we supply
medicines to many of these countries. They will not
hesitate to meet an Indian supplier.
A second simpler strategy could be to line up with a
pharma export supplier who has a hospital type (injectables,
for example) products and has known distributors. That
same distributor can help for Devices also as Devices do
not conflict with his medical products. Many scopes for
creative “jugaads” are possible, we believe.
No. Country Population Approx location in L Persons
|
S. No. |
Country |
Population in L Persons |
Approx location |
|
1 |
Albania |
28 |
South Europe |
|
2 |
Anguilla |
0.15 |
Caribbean |
|
3 |
Antigua and Barbuda |
0.96 |
Caribbean |
|
4 |
Aruba |
1.06 |
South America |
|
5 |
Azerbaijan |
100.2 |
Old CIS |
|
6 |
Bahamas |
3.9 |
N America, near Caribbean |
|
7 |
Barbados |
2.87 |
Caribbean |
|
8 |
Belize |
3.9 |
Caribbean |
|
9 |
Bhutan |
7.27 |
Asia |
|
10 |
Botswana |
23.5 |
Africa, South |
|
11 |
The British Virgin Islands
|
0.3 |
N America, near Caribbean |
|
12 |
Brunei Darussalam |
4.33 |
Asia |
|
13 |
Burkina Faso |
200 |
Africa, West |
|
14 |
Burundi |
115 |
Africa, East |
|
15 |
Cayman Islands |
0.65 |
Caribbean |
|
16 |
Chad |
159 |
Africa, Central |
|
17 |
Comoros |
8.51 |
Africa, East coast |
|
18 |
Timor-Leste |
35 |
North of Australia |
|
19 |
Dominica |
0.72 |
Caribbean |
|
20 |
Gabon |
21.7 |
Africa, Central |
|
21 |
The Gambia |
23.5 |
Africa, West |
|
22 |
Grenada |
1.12 |
Caribbean |
|
23 |
Guinea-Bissau |
19 |
Africa, West |
|
24 |
Guyana |
7.8 |
South America |
|
25 |
Haiti |
1.12 |
North America |
|
26 |
Kiribati |
1.2 |
East of Australia |
|
27 |
Central African Republic
|
47.5 |
Africa, Central |
|
28 |
Marshall Islands |
0.58 |
Oceania, NE of Australia |
|
29 |
Mauritius |
12.7 |
Africa, east |
|
30 |
Federated States of Micronesia
|
1.14 |
Oceania, NE of Australia |
|
31 |
Montserrat |
0.05 |
North America |
|
32 |
Mozambique |
303.7 |
Africa, South |
|
33 |
Netherlands Antilles |
2.11 |
Caribbean |
|
34 |
Nauru |
0.1 |
Oceania, NE of Australia |
|
35 |
Niger |
2.33 |
Africa, West |
|
36 |
Palestine |
51 |
West Asia |
|
37 |
Paraguay |
70.4 |
South America |
|
38 |
Saint Kitts and Nevis
|
0.53 |
North America |
|
39 |
Saint Lucia |
1.83 |
North America |
|
40 |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
|
1.11 |
Caribbean |
|
41 |
Sao Tome and Principe
|
2.15 |
Africa, Central |
|
42 |
Seychelles |
0.98 |
Africa, east |
|
43 |
Solomon Islands |
6.7 |
Oceania, NE of Australia |
|
44 |
Somalia |
154 |
Africa, east |
|
45 |
Suriname |
5.81 |
South America |
|
46 |
Tonga |
1 |
Oceania, SE of Australia |
|
47 |
Trinidad and Tobago |
13.9 |
South America |
|
48 |
Turks and Caicos |
0.45 |
Caribbean |
|
49 |
Vanuatu |
2.99 |
Oceania, NE of Australia |
Is it worth going to smaller countries?
Exactly this is the thinking of many competitors and
because of this, a smaller number of players go to these
countries. The experience of this author is that it is
easier to be a big fish in a smaller pond, needed much
less resources, compared to be a small fry in a big
ocean.
A word of caution here is that one must be definitely
sure of the quality. If you have some quality
certifications ready for your products, this will help.
It is also advised that one can have a larger basket to
attract a distributor because in a smaller country, a
small distributor will prefer you rather than hunting
multiple products from many suppliers in this case. If
possible, from internet, get some price data for the
products under consideration beforehand. It is also
advisable that the Packing is very good.
One success story which the author knows revolves around
involving Doctors as distributors in such smaller places
as they are reliable importers and can import under the
pretext of their own use.
Happy exporting!! |
