Effective 21 January 2015, India liberalized the Foreign Direct Investment policy for investment in the medical devices sector. Earlier the medical devices sector was included in the pharmaceutical production sector, which meant the investment restrictions on the latter sector also applied to the former.
Specifically for the pharmaceutical sector, 100% foreign ownership is allowed for both greenfield and brownfield projects. However the brownfield project proposals require an approval from the investment promotion board and could be subject to further conditions.
The medical devices sector has now been separated out from the pharmaceutical sector and the above restrictions will no longer apply to such investments i.e. 100% foreign ownershup with automatic approval for both brownfield and greenfield projects is available.