If the Covid-19 vaccine is ready for roll-out in early 2021, it will give rise to a huge demand for syringes and glass vials. India has an annual capacity to make about 1.08 billion 0.5 ml AD (auto-disable, or those that are automatically disabled after a single use) syringes. The three key manufacturers, Hindustan Syringes and Medical Device (720 million), ISCON Surgicals (180 million), and Becton Dickinson (180 million), are planning to increase this to 1.42 billion by mid-2021. Of this, around 50 per cent are planned for exports.
But manufacturers are busy doing the math. They expect the Indian government to need at least 500 million syringes by July, in addition to the 300 million that it orders for the annual immunization drive. “We are now manufacturing what we project to be the demand from the health ministry till March. This will be completed by December this year and we will stockpile it at risk. In January, if the government suddenly needs syringes for a Covid19 vaccine, we will have the spare capacity to make them quickly.” explained Rajiv Nath, managing director, HMD.
HMD is expanding its syringe making capacity in phases. It aims to raise it to 800 million (from the current 720 million) by the year end, and to one billion pieces by June next year. “We can take it up to 1.5 billion if we have proper contracts,” Nath said.
HMD is slated to supply 140 million syringes to vaccine alliance body COVAX, of which it has shipped 56 million pieces already, and is ready to dispatch another 28 million. Nath pointed out that while vaccines ship by air, syringes are transported by sea freight. If a mass immunization drive is planned somewhere, syringes need to be shipped at least three months ahead of the date.
Pavan Mocherla, managing director, Becton Dickinson – India and South Asia, said, “Several countries and institutions such as the UNICEF and Gavi have already placed orders with us for the delivery of syringes for Covid vaccination.” He added that the Indian government had not given any indication of its requirement as yet.
The second aspect of planning for raising syringe manufacturing capacity is based on the extent of public and private vaccination, because the government uses AD syringes, and the private market mostly uses disposable syringes.
“Let’s assume that 70 per cent of the 1.3 billion people will be vaccinated. That means 900 million people need to be given a jab, which requires 1.8 billion syringes. If it is done entirely by the government, then all would be AD syringes, but if it is a 60:40 government-private divide, then almost 800 million syringes will be disposable. We need clarity on this soon,” Nath said.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
