Nipro Inaugurates India’s First Dialyser Production Plant

Nipro India Corporation Pvt. Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of the Japan-based maker of medical devices and pharmaceutical consumables, has inaugurated a greenfield facility at Shirwal near Pune. The first Indian-made artificial kidney (dialyser) will be manufactured at the plant along with other medical devices.

The company has invested Rs 700 crore in the new facility and has received approval from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board of the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre to perform in-house sterilisation using gamma technology, another first in India. The initiative has been given mega-project status by the state government.

Established to provide a one-stop solution for dialysis patients, the India plant will cater essentially to the domestic market, says Yoshhiko Sano, President, Nipro Corp.

With an initial capacity to make six million dialysers per annum, which can be ramped up, Nipro plans initially to export 90% of its production.

According to Managing Director Milind Pappu, the prohibitive cost of dialysis combined with its sparse availability in nonurban areas limits its reach to less than 10% of patients who need it. Local manufacture of the device will make it more affordable and increase its reach, he says.

Nipro, which is also bringing in technology to produce dialyser membranes, will make a variety of dialyser sizes to meet individual requirements. The company will import approximately 80% of the raw materials needed, but plans to source more of them locally in the future, says Pappu.

Nipro has been operating in India since 1995, reporting an annual turnover of Rs 500 crore. Approximately 7.85 million people suffer from chronic kidney failure in India, the vast majority of whom are not properly treated.

— Meera K