SUMMARY
- India’s bioeconomy is now valued at $150 billion, driven by rapid growth in the biotech sector.
- BIRAC is focusing on boosting innovation and nurturing startups, converting academic research into market-ready products.
- India still lags in global biotech ranking, largely due to low R&D spending, but bio-incubation centres and government support are driving progress.
India’s biotechnology sector has achieved a significant milestone, with the bioeconomy now valued at $150 billion, according to Dr. Jitendra Kumar, Managing Director of the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). Despite this growth, India’s ranking in the global biotech sector remains at 14th, largely due to a gap in innovation and patented products. BIRAC, a not-for-profit public sector enterprise under the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), is working to bridge this gap by promoting innovation and entrepreneurship within the sector.
Kumar emphasized India’s pivotal role in global healthcare, particularly in supplying 40% of the world’s generic medicines. However, he pointed out that while the biotech industry has expanded rapidly, more effort is needed to develop patented, innovative products to elevate India’s global standing.
BIRAC is focusing on nurturing startups and converting academic research into commercial ventures through initiatives like Promoting Academic Conversion to Enterprise (PACE). Since its inception in 2012, BIRAC has helped grow the number of biotech startups in India from 300 to over 8,000, contributing to a surge in the bioeconomy from $35 billion to $150 billion in just a decade.
A major achievement of BIRAC has been the creation of bio-incubation centres across the country, which offer ‘plug and play’ laboratories for startups, addressing the infrastructure challenges they often face. However, despite this progress, India still invests only 0.8% of its GDP in research and development (R&D), compared to over 2% spent by countries like the US and China.
Kumar noted that increased government support and strategic initiatives like bio-incubation and startup funding are essential for fostering the next wave of innovation in India’s biotech sector.
