Agri-biotech sector grows at 30%

Backed by the government, the industry logs Rs 926 cr sales in 2006-07.

The agri-biotech sector in India is growing at 30 per cent for the last five years, and it is likely to maintain the growth in the future as well, says a Rabobank report titled "Indian agri-biotech sector: Emerging scenario, issues and challenges".

The country made its entry into agri-biotech in early 2002 with the government giving its nod for commercial cultivation of Bt cotton. Since then, agri-biotech continues to be the fastest growing industry among all the biotech industries in the country.

In 2006-07, the industry made Rs 926 crore in sales, accounting for 10.84 per cent of the country's biotech market. In 2005-06, it registered a growth of over 81 per cent with a value of Rs 598 crore compared to Rs 330 crore in 2004-05.

Within six years, the Bt cotton acreage in the country has grown manifold accounting for about 70 per cent of the total area under cotton cultivation in 2007-08.

The report says that the industry was backed by the government through streamlined regulatory framework, policies and fiscal benefits that resulted in a functional genomics project with an investment of $8 million.

The government has already initiated a project to conduct genome-wide research on a range of agronomically important crops.

Also, the recent infrastructure developments have provided an impetus to the agribiotech sector in the country, says the report.

Private sector efforts to introduce agri-biotech in India began in 1995. However, most research and development (R&D) works have been conducted in the public sector.

A large number of specialist national laboratories, and research institutes and centres, and a limited number of universities and institutes of technology are also involved in R&D activities.

The research finds that agricultural biotech in India has good development potential. The country can become a major grower of transgenic rice and several genetically engineered vegetables by 2010. It is emerging as an important destination for both biomarkers and validation services.

There is an increasing use of molecular markers in crop breeding and a growing realisation that some of these new technologies will lead to future growth in the productivity and quality of crops such as rice, wheat, eggplant (brinjal), tomato and okra.

The agri-biotech sector is also reliant on a strong partnering model. Indian and US/European companies can derive synergies in combining their research and commercialisation expertise.

However, this would not be possible without active support from alliances among seed companies, the report says.

Alliances are becoming increasingly important in seed industry to bridge the gap between the field experience and emerging technologies.

This is because larger seed companies need to increase research productivity and biotech companies represent one of the major sources of this cutting-edge research.

It is this symbiotic relationship that fuels an increasing number of opportunities. It also brings opportunities to operate collaborative R&D programmes in biotech, especially, in genetically modified field trials.

As farmers face a limited choice of new seed traits, seed companies are looking forward to developing projects that are required to supplement their product pipelines. Biotech leadership of the country will certainly play a vital role to bridge the gap.

In recent developments in the sector, Indian food companies have started acquiring agri-biotech companies as part of a strategy to strengthen their food businesses.

Recently, ITC acquired Australian agri-biotech company Technico, which has operations in Canada, China, India and West Asia through its subsidiaries. Technico bought Technituber seed technology that has seed manufacturing facilities in China, Canada, and Manpura in Himachal Pradesh.