Budget 2026-27: Health sector seeks tax relief, rationalised rates
Health care, medtech, and pharma companies have asked the government to use the Union Budget 2026-27 to ease tax pressures, boost domestic manufacturing, and sharply step up investments in research, innovation, and preventive care.
Medtech associations have demanded that the high cumulative tax burden (health cess, surcharge, and goods and services tax, or GST) on essential medical devices, reaching up to 30 per cent in some segments, be addressed.
“Current tax levels directly inflate the cost of critical care, specifically in surgery, management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and diagnostics, pushing families into financial hardship,” said Pavan Choudary, chairman of the Medical Technology Association of India (MTaI).
