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The Union Minister of Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh, has said that India is on track to become one of the top five global hubs for biomanufacturing by 2025. Biotechnology has the potential to become instrumental in global trade, contributing to India’s overall economic growth.
The Minister was speaking at the launch of the website for Global Bio-India – 2023, a large international biotechnology event. It will take place in New Delhi from 4-6 December. He said that India’s bioeconomy has experienced double-digit year-on-year growth for the past nine years. The country is currently recognised as one of the top 12 biotechnology destinations in the world.
In 2014, India’s bioeconomy was approximately US$ 10 billion and today it stands at US$ 80 billion. In a span of just 8 to 9 years, it has gone up eight times. The government anticipates it will reach US$ 300 billion by 2030, he noted.
The bioeconomy will become a hugely lucrative source of livelihood in the future. The sector in India has undergone substantial development over the past three decades and has made contributions to the health, medicine, agriculture, and bioinformatics industries.
The Minister emphasised the critical importance of biotech startups for India’s future economy. He pointed out that biotech startups have shown remarkable growth, increasing by 100-fold over the past eight years, going from 52 startups in 2014 to over 6,300 today. India is witnessing the incorporation of three new biotech startups every day, all driven by the ambition to offer practical technological solutions.
“India has a huge wealth of bioresources, an unsaturated resource waiting to be harnessed and an advantage in Biotechnology especially due to the vast biodiversity and the unique bioresources in the Himalayas.” There is a 7,500-kilometre-long coastline, and last year, a project called Samudrayaan was initiated for deep ocean exploration. Under the mission, a self-propelled, human-piloted submersible was developed equipped with sensors and state-of-the-art tools.
Biotechnology startups combine new biological research with manufacturing techniques involving processing living systems like micro-organisms and self-cultures. Biotechnology creates a setting that is cleaner, more environmentally friendly, and aligned with human well-being. Over time, it also establishes profitable avenues for employment and provides alternatives to petrochemical-based manufacturing, such as bio-based products like food additives and animal feed products.
The Department of Biotechnology has been actively backing research and development in advanced biofuels and ‘Waste to Energy’ technologies. The Minister said that the concept of waste will become obsolete, with everything being recycled. This was exemplified by the recycling technology created by the Dehra Dun-based Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP), which has devised a van capable of gathering waste cooking oil and transforming it into biofuel.
The Global Bio-India event will bring together biotechnology stakeholders, including international bodies, regulatory bodies, central and state ministries, small and medium-sized enterprises, large industries, bioclusters, research institutes, investors, and the members from the startup ecosystem.
The goal is to facilitate comprehensive engagement within the biotechnology sector, including partnership building and policy dialogues. Participants will showcase and identify key biotechnological breakthroughs, products, services, and technologies developed by both national and global entities.
Additionally, it aims to pinpoint avenues for funding and collaborative ventures in biomanufacturing and biotech innovations. It will explore licensing opportunities for existing products, attract contract projects from international corporations, and bring global venture funding into India.