Biotech industry need $5 bn to achieve $100 bn turnover by 2025

The industry in India is currently valued at $11 bn, growing at 20% CAGR; half its revenues today come from bio pharma

India's burgeoning biotechnology industry has estimated that the government has to invest $5 billion to develop human capital, infrastructure and research initiatives if it is to realise the dream of growing the sector into a $100 billion industry by 2025.

The biotechnology industry in India is currently valued at $11 billion and is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 20 per cent. Over half of the revenues generated by the industry today comes from bio pharma, for which India has emerged as a global superpower.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairman and managing director of Biocon, said that India has the potential to replicate its success in manufacturing vaccines across various other sectors of biotechnology. Agri biotech and Bio IT are two such sectors where India can lead global research.

Today, two out of three vaccines administered to children across the globe are manufactured in India.

"To dominate in a field such as biotechnology and information technology, what is paramount is human capital. And I think it is human capital that will shape what is India's science and technology prowess in the world," said Shaw, at the Bengaluru India Bio event held in the city today. "It is also very important for us to understand that the quality of scientists and science in India is increasing by leaps and bounds."

Karnataka, specifically Bengaluru, has emerged as the hub for biotechnology in India, and there is a demand to setup more high-quality institutes for biotechnology research here. The state has been urging the centre to allocate funds to setup a biomolecular institute, which will spearhead research in agriculture, industrial biotechnology, enzymes, biofuels and genetics.

The government's contribution towards the $5 billion that is required to take India's biotech industry to the next level will largely come in the form of setting up of such institutes. There is an idea to mimic the model for such a university in France which receives 60 per cent of its funding from the industry.

"Pushing now can result in enormous amplification of success five or ten years from now. We must remember that our successes in the vaccine and generics industry came from a foundational basis in basic life sciences and biology, but today that requirements for that foundation are very different," said Prof K Vijay Raghavan, secretary of the department of biotechnology with the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The other demand from the industry to the government is the need for enabling policies. The biotechnology industry is the most regulated sector and often research and product development have long gestation periods. In order to realise goals, the government will have to make policies that will look at the long term benefits rather than short-term gain.