Biotechnology

in India
White Papers
published by Chillibreeze
September 2008
 1. Introduction ence of plastics in the 1940s, transistors in the
1950s, computers in the 1960s and microcom-
Biotech puters in the 1970s.
It is the hot new field which is as much in the
2. India’s position in the World
minds of captains of industry as it is in the
Biotech scenario
minds of academicians and educationists.There
is a clear consensus amongst them that after For many years market research groups like
the IT revolution, it is the biotech revolution Ernst & Young have been tracking the growth
that is going to spark a quantum leap in agricul- curve of biotechnology in many nations. Over
tural and industrial production. Biotechnology the years these studies have shown that India
has undergone a sea is emerging as a force to reckon with, in
change from a study Indian biotech generated the field of biotechnology.The global bio-
that was confined to a revenues close to $2 billion technology industry is worth $54 billion
lab, to a science which in 2006–07, with 60% of its and is growing currently at 17 percent
is possibly affecting us earning arising from exports. annually. This in itself is a clear indicator
in many ways. From an of the immense potential which the in-
earlier picture of a sci- dustry promises. (1)
ence laboratory with
test tubes and Bunsen burners, the picture that Indian biotech generated revenues close to $2
biotech evokes now are state-of-the-art tech- billion in 2006–07, with 60% of its earning aris-
niques and equipments which include genetic ing from exports, according to the latest in-
engineering, DNA fingerprinting, tissue culture dustry survey by Association of Biotechnology
and other newer techniques which are emerg- Led Enterprises (ABLE) and trade publication
ing everyday. BioSpectrum India. The encouraging factor is
that the Indian biotechnology market is grow-
Though linked to DNA-the blueprint of life- ing at a blistering pace of 36.5 percent per
the beginnings of biotechnology started with annum and ranks amongst the highest in the
traditional industrial microbiology. The amaz- world today. According to senior executives of
ing cellular machinery of microbes was used Ernst & Young, India has to achieve a market
to harvest goods and services for the good share of at least 10 percent of the market by
of mankind. Built on the pillars of fermenta- 2010 from the 2 percent it has achieved today,
tion and enzyme technology, biotechnology is to be considered a significant player in the glo-
emerging as an important science which will bal arena.
impact several aspects of living ranging
from agriculture, industry, medical and India already ranks India already ranks among
environment sector. among the top 10 biotech the top 10 biotech hubs of
hubs of the world. the world. India has around
It is being heralded as the technology 280 biotech and 180 bio
of today, evoking memories of the influ-

 | September 2008 | chillibreeze

 suppliers and has the potential to join the top set up ‘Centres of Excellence’ in the country
five biotech hubs of the world. Already the 2 nd
which are responsible for generating skilled
largest manufacturer of children vaccines, India manpower as well as supporting R&D efforts.
is slated to become a major centre for custom Prior to the setting up of the DBT, The Na-
research, and clinical/biological services. There tional Biotechnology Board (NBTB) was set up
has been an excep- in 1982 to promote large-
tional increase in scale use of biotechnology
the number of bio- products and processes.
tech start-up com- Centres of Excellence:
panies in the last • Center for Human The Indian Government has
five years. As it is Genetics, Bangalore evolved bio-safety guidelines
with the IT sector, it • Center for Cellular and Molecular and has helped lay down pat-
is the large pool of Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad ent rules. With the amend-
skilled manpower • National Institute of ment of the Indian patent
and low costs that Biologicals, New Delhi act in 2005, the stronger
are drawing global • Plant Genomics Centre,New Delhi Intellectual Property pro-
biotech giants to • Central Drug Research tection is spearheading new
partner with Indian Institute, Lucknow innovations. These changes
companies. India • National Facility for Macromolecular have also allowed, for the
ranks third in Asia Crystallography, BARC, Mumbai, first time, patenting of phar-
in filing for patents. • National Facility for High Field NMR maceutical products in con-
The Ernst & Young’s TIFR, Mumbai, trast to the previous regime
2004 ‘Progressions’ • National Brain Research which allowed only process
report also claims Center, New Delhi. patenting.
that one million
It has also taken part in
jobs will be created
technology transfers and
by this industry in
international partnerships.
the next five years. (2)
There are conglomerates and pharma compa-
There is also scope for low-cost R&D through nies which are making their inroads into bio-
partnering and developing technologies espe- tech and the already established companies are
cially with Chinese and American companies. expanding. This has led to a greater budget al-
Already the world pharma companies are seek- location, which has gone up from 404 million
ing India to set their research and development in 1987-88 to 1138 million in 1999-98 to 2356
centres here. To facilitate this partnering, the million in 2002-2003.
government has also woken up to the fact that
States like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala,
policies related to foreign investment, capital
Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh
and government policies need to be revised.
are developing biotech parks. Recently West
3. Initiatives by the Indian Bengal is planning to set up a biotech park in
Government collaboration with the Calcutta based research
institute, The Bose Institute.
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) was
set up under the Ministry of Science and Tech- In November 2007, India finally got a national
nology in 1986 giving an impetus to the devel- biotechnology policy called the National Bio-
opment of biotechnology in India The DBT has technology Development Strategy. (3)

 | September 2008 | chillibreeze

 3.1 Centres of Excellence
BUDGETRY ALLOCATION OF MAJOR FUNDING
The Ministry of Science & Technology has AGENCIES IN INDIA FOR THE YEARS 1990-91 AND
2000-01
identified some institutes as ‘centres of excel-
lence’ and has provided outstanding infrastruc- 16000
1990-91
ture and manpower to them. These centres 14000
2000-01
12000
are ready for partnerships and also serve as a

Rs Million
10000
major market for purchase of equipment and
8000
laboratory supplies.
6000
4000
4. Access to Capital for Indian
2000
Biotech
0
DSIR DST DBT ICAR ICMR CSIR UGC
4.1 Government Funding
Source: www.biotechdesk.com
In India, as it is in many developing countries,
the number of financial institutions that want dian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR),
to invest in biotech industry is limited. The and University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government of India has tried to resolve this The CSIR led New Millennium Indian Technol-
problem through the creation of the Biotech- ogy Leadership Initiative (NMITLI) is a major
nology Consortium of India (BCIL) as a public means of funding for the Indian biotech sector.
company. This was set up in cooperation with This initiative was created to fund early stages
financial institutions like IDBI (Industrial De- of technology development- an area where
velopment Bank of India) and ICICI (Industrial venture capitalists shy away from.
Credit and Investment Corporation of India)
One of the boldest initiatives in the national bi-
and 30 players in biotech industry. This con-
otech policy was the commitment to spend 30
glomerate was created to perform the same
percent of DBT’s annual funds on private-pub-
functions a venture capital company performed
lic projects. Perhaps such a public commitment
in the US.
has never been made earlier in India and this
Other government funding agents include De- is sure to give a fillip to this nascent industry.
partment of Science and Technology (DST), The SBIRI (Small Business Innovation Research
Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Indian Initiative), a scheme launched during Septem-
Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Council ber 2005 by the Department of Biotechnology
of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), In- (DBT) is expected to encourage entrepre-
neurship and meet the demands for early stage
Union Budget provisions for Science and Technology funding. BCIL is
Rs. Crores
the management
  2007-08 Revised 2008-09
  Plan Non-plan Total % Plan Non-plan Total %
agency for SBIRI.
Agricultural Research 1620 840 2460 18.41 1760 920 2680 17.36
However, the
establishment of
Dept. of Atomic Energy 1686 1816 3503 26.40 1958 1950 3908 25.31
a single Nation-
Dept. of Space 2831 459 3290 24.62 3600 474 4074 26.39
al Biotechnol-
Dept. of Sc & tech. 1270 241 1511 11.31 1530 250 1780 12.53
ogy Regulatory
Dept. of Sc & Ind. Res. 1060 838 1898 14.20 1200 878 2078 13.46
Authority with
Dept. of Bio. Tech. 683 20 703 5.26 900 19 919 5.95 a much needed
Figures rounded to the nearest crore single window
Source: India: Ministry of Finance: Budget Documents 2008-09

 | September 2008 | chillibreeze