Biotechnology in India is a sunrise sector within the

Indian economy The economy of India has transitioned from a mixed planned economy to a mixed middle-income developing social market economy with notable state participation in strategic sectors. * * * * It is the world's fifth-largest economy by nomin ...

. Agencies of the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

concerned with the

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used ...

industry include the

Department of Biotechnology The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is an Indian government department, under the Ministry of Science and Technology responsible for administrating development and commercialisation in the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India. It ...

and the proposed

Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India The Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) is a proposed regulatory body in India for uses of biotechnology products including genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The institute was first suggested under the Biotechnology Regulatory ...

. As of 2022, the sector is valued at $80 billion. The Indian biotechnology sector is fast growing, and the sector is expected to be valued at $150 billion by 2025 and surpass $300 billion in value by 2030.

History

The first Indian biotechnology company to be established was

Biocon Biocon Limited is an Indian biopharmaceutical company based in Bangalore. It was founded by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw in 1978. The company manufactures generic active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) that are sold in approximately 120 countries, ...

, which was founded by

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (born 23 March 1953) is an Indian billionaire entrepreneur. She is the executive chairperson and founder of Biocon Limited and Biocon Biologics Limited, a biotechnology company based in Bangalore, India and the former cha ...

in 1978. The Indian biotechnology industry formally began in 1986 with the establishment of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) by the

Ministry of Science and Technology A Science Ministry or Department of Science is a ministry or other government agency charged with science. The ministry is often headed by a Minister for Science. List of Ministries of Science Many countries have a Ministry of Science or Ministry ...

Regulation

Department of Biotechnology

The Department of Biotechnology is an

Indian government The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

department under the

, responsible for administering development and commercialization in the field of modern

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

and

in India. The DBT was also one of the world's first government departments that was established to focus solely on the biotechnology sector.

Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India

The Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) is a proposed regulatory body in India for uses of biotechnology products including genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The institute was first suggested under the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) draft bill prepared by the

in 2008. Since then, it has undergone several revisions.

Companies

Vaccine manufactures

India is the world's largest vaccine maker as of 2020. Prominent Indian vaccine manufactures include the

Serum Institute of India Serum Institute of India (SII) is an Indian biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals company, based in Pune. It is the world's largest manufacturer of vaccines. It was founded by Cyrus Poonawalla in 1966 and is a part of Cyrus Poonawalla Group. ...

(SII). SII is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer. Another prominent vaccine manufacturer is

Bharat Biotech Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) is an Indian multinational biotechnology company headquartered in the city of Hyderabad, India engaged in the drug discovery, drug development, manufacture of vaccines, bio-therapeutics, pharmace ...

. Hester Biosciences is company that manufactures animal and poultry vaccines.

Other established companies

* Advanced Enzymes * Biocon. * Laurus Bio. The company is a subsidiary of Laurus Labs, and was originally company named Richcore, before Laurus acquired it and renamed it. * Sea6 Energy is a startup working for producing fuel from seaweed.

Biotechnology startups

There have been an increasing number of

startups A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

being founded in the Indian biotechnology industry. In 2021, the total number of biotechnology startups stood at 5365, whereas in 2010, there were only 50 startups in the sector. As of 2021, more than half of the biotechnology startups are being founded in the medical sector, however, other large sectors where biotechnology startups are being founded include 18% in the biotechnology services sector and 14% of startups are in agricultural biotechnology.

Biotechnology parks

The DBT has set up biotechnology parks in India, and as of 2022, there are 9 biotechnology parks across the country. The parks have been set up by the DBT to give infrastructure support that will assist in making biotechnology research into products and services. The biotechnology parks give scientists and

small and medium sized enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...

facilities that can help them in developing and demonstrating technologies, and assit in their pilot plant studies studies as well.

References

External links

Department of Biotechnology (Ministry of Science & Technology)

Indian Biosafety Rules & Regulations

eProMIS (Department of Biotechnology)
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