Date:08/06/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/06/08/stories/2006060812200500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Biotechnology sector set to witness rapid growth: report

Staff Reporter

It says the industry is expected to grow by 30 per cent over the next five years

There are 178 biotechnology companies in the State with 158 of them in Bangalore alone
55 per cent of the biotech firms in India are located in Karnataka

Biotechnology companies urged to invest more in research

BIO SHOW: Minister for Science and Technology Ramachandra Gowda (left) greeting director of the Indian Institute of Science P. Balaram at the inauguration of Bangalore Bio 2006 in Bangalore on Wednesday. Seen (from right) are managing director of Met ahelix Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd. K.K. Narayanan; chief biotechnology officer Ganesh Kishore; founder of Avestha Gengraine Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Villoo Morawala Patell and chairperson of Biocon Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: The Indian biotechnology industry is expected to grow by 25 to 30 per cent over the next five years, outperforming the global expected growth of around 12 to 16 per cent, according to a report by Yes Bank.

The report on `Indian biotechnology industry-fostering knowledge revolution,' released at `Bio 2006' on Wednesday by Minister for Science and Technology Ramachandra Gowda, said the Indian industry's share was currently 2 per cent of the world market, but it was expected to grow to $ 5 billion by 2010.

Commenting on the opportunity areas in the biotechnology sector, the report said there was huge potential in agricultural biotechnology. The report said that although currently the biotechnology contribution in the field was poor, it was bound to grow at a fast pace with regulatory acceptance of genetically modified crops such as Bt cotton.

Expertise

It said that India had the advantage of offering an abundant supply of technical expertise and significant cost competitiveness. In addition, it also offered advantages in multiple areas such as scientific manpower, language and world-class health infrastructure.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson and managing director of Biocon, said the Indian biotechnology industry was inching towards the $1.5-billion mark and that the bio-pharma industry had already crossed the $1-billion mark.

Ms. Shaw said there were 178 biotechnology companies in the State with 158 of them in Bangalore alone.

The State accounted for 55 per cent of Indian biotechnology companies in the country.

Ms. Shaw also said that biotechnology companies needed to invest more in research.

She said that the biotechnology industry needed to move from focussing on manufacturing of generic drugs to investing to discover new drugs.

Ms. Shaw said that Indian industry also needed to work with academia to improve the quality of students clearing the biotechnology programmes. According to the Yes Bank report, as many as 70,000 postgraduates and 1,500 Ph.Ds qualified in the disciplines of biosciences and engineering every year. Forty-seven universities and institutions across the country had a full-fledged department in biotechnology.

However, Ms. Shaw said that only 25 per cent of the students matched the industry's needs.

P. Balaram, director of the Indian Institute of Science, said that gaps between academia and industry were bound to be there in fast evolving sectors such as biotechnology. "It arises because of the tumultuous developments in the fields," he said.

To close the gap, Mr. Balaram said that the industry needed to plough in some of the profits it made back into education.

He said institutes needed to be upgraded so that they could recruit good faculty.

"Even the best of institutes have problem in recruiting faculty," he said.

Mr. Gowda said the State Government was committed to supporting initiatives in the biotechnology sector.