India should create a large pool of professionals in the biotechnology sector to cater to the growing requirements for skilled professionals in this sector.
Presently, there is a huge crunch of skilled workforce in biotechnology industry, which makes it difficult to sustain growth rate of the industry.
“Presently, there is a huge crunch of human resources in the biotechnology industry. So, everyone is trying to hire people from the small pool of people available in the industry. It doesn’t favour the growth of the industry, which is growing very fast in the country. So, India should create a large pool of professionals to meet the pace of current growth rate,” Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director of Biocon Ltd, said on the sidelines of the Bangalore India-Bio event to be held from May 4 to May 6 here.
She also said, the cost of hiring a good professional from other countries was equal to hiring one from within the country.
Indian biotechnology industry was estimated to touch $5 billion in the last fiscal and is likely to grow more than 20 per cent on the back of huge investment flow from Western countries to the country in the current fiscal.
Karnataka, which has 198 biotechnology companies of the 360 in the country, is expected to contribute 50 per cent to the total biotechnology revenue in future.
“Though biotechnology industry is growing rapidly, there are very few institutions to produce skilled professionals for this industry,” Shaw added.
Referring to Bangalore India-Bio event, she said this event would enable stakeholders to discuss these issues and come out with concrete solutions.
“Bangalore India-Bio, which is now the largest biotechnology event in Asia, will also witness discussions relating to regulatory issues in the industry, opportunities in biosimilar and biologics, partnering global biotechnology companies among others,” she said. The event is likely to see participation of 140 exhibitors and over 750 delegates from various parts of the world.
“The conference this year with 20 sessions, over 110 speakers and more than 750 delegates will include sessions on regenerative medicine, systems biology and discovery platforms, round table on regulatory, clinical trials and contract research, bioinformatics and next generation genomics, and drug discovery and development, medical diagnostics and devices, finance and investment in biotechnology among others,” she added.
Bangalore India-Bio,which is going to arrange this event for 11th year, acts as a platform for all stakeholders in biotechnology industry to take stock of the present environment in the industry. This also ensures a lot of trade meetings among companies and help them to explore collaboration in different areas.
Referring to status of the Bangalore Helix, the proposed biotechnology cluster by Karnataka government, Shaw said the state government was in the process of finalising the bid for setting up the biotechnology cluster in Bangalore.
Bangalore Helix, the proposed biotechnology cluster of Karnataka government, will be spread over 56 acres and is expected to attract Rs 5,000 crore of investment from various stakeholders.
