BT sector to occupy 140 mn sq ft by '10

The Indian biotech industry is set to grow and occupy 140 million square feet by 2010.

"Even though the country presently holds a minimal market share of 2 per cent of the global biotech market, it has immense potential to develop as a key player by 2010 and is expected to generate $5 billion revenues, creating employment for a million by 2010 through its products as well as services," said international real estate consultants Cushman & Wakefield in its 'Bio Reality in India Report 2008'.

In addition to Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Mumbai, tier II and tier III cities like Vadodara, Coimbatore, Goa, Mysore, Madurai, Kolkata, Gurgaon, Thrissur, Nagpur and Thiruchirapalli have emerged as the preferred destinations to set up a biotech facility.

But tier I cities (Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Mumbai) with better infrastructure and talent pool, the two most important factors in setting up a biotech facility, score over the others.

The other tier II and tier III cites are along the potential corridors that are attracting investments from various stakeholders of the industry.

"These cities have gained attention from the government and the industry in their attempt to provide a conducive environment to foster biotech development. The government is trying to boost the sector by providing sector-specific promotion policy and requisite infrastructure in terms of various biotech parks and SEZs that are coming up in these cities," the report added.

According to Cushman & Wakefield analysis, Bangalore is estimated to witness approximately 6.5 million square feet demand from this sector alone between 2007-2010.

The city scored high on talent pool, government policy, investment environment and infrastructure.

Apart from being the heartbeat of the IT/ITeS sector, the city has also witnessed significant development in the biotechnology domain.

It has already witnessed the inflow of various biotech companies and research centres like Novo Nordisk, Syngene, Aurigene, Wipro Life Sciences and Novozymes.

Hyderabad, on the other hand, emerged as a pioneer in this sector due to government initiatives, sector-specific policies and the conducive investment environment.

Hyderabad has witnessed infrastructural development in the biotech domain wherein The Knowledge Park, The Biotech Park, Genome Valley and other projects have come up giving the city an advantage over others. Over 53 international biotech companies have established their operations in the Genome Valley over the last one year.

Additionally, this city will witness development of two biotech SEZs and three biotech parks in the next couple of years.

Chennai has experienced a new wave of growth. A world class laboratory infrastructure, TICEL Bio Park has been established and has been in operation since November 2004. The city will witness development of three more biotech parks and a biotech SEZ in the coming years.

The government has planned a bioinformatics and a genomics centre at Tidel Park in Chennai to explore the Indian genetic pool, leverage on the pool of Indian bioinformatics scientists and low cost software skills, facilitate research and enable entrepreneurs to commercialise their findings.