India is poised to be among the top 5 global biomanufacturing hubs by 2025: Government
Biotechnology is the technology of tomorrow as IT has already reached its saturation point, the Union Minister said.
Global Bio-India – 2023: “India is poised to be among the top 5 global biomanufacturing hubs by 2025,” said Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, adding that biotechnology has the potential to become an important instrument of global trade and the bioeconomy, contributing to India’s overall economy. Dr. Jitendra Singh said this on Saturday while launching the website of “Global Bio-India – 2023”, a mega international meet on biotechnology, to be held at Pragati Maidan from December 4 to 6, 2023. “Today, India’s bioeconomy stands at $80 billion. . and we look forward to reaching $300 billion by 2030,” he said.
He said that the Indian bioeconomy has witnessed double-digit growth and is now among the top 12 biotechnology destinations in the world, and that the bioeconomy will be a hugely lucrative source of livelihood in times to come.
“India’s biotechnology sector has evolved over the last three decades and has made significant contributions to various sectors including healthcare, medicine, agriculture, manufacturing and bioinformatics,” he said. Biotech StartUps are crucial for India’s future economy, he added.
“Biotech startups have grown a hundredfold over the past eight years, from 52 startups in 2014 to over 6,300 today. Every day, three biotech startups are being founded in India with the ambition to provide viable technology solutions,” he said.
Biotechnology is the technology of tomorrow as IT has already reached its saturation point, the Union Minister said.
“India has a huge wealth of bio-resources, an unsaturated resource waiting to be exploited and an advantage in biotechnology, especially because of the vast biodiversity and unique bio-resources in the Himalayas. Then there is the 7,500 km coastline and last year we launched the Samudrayaan, which will unearth biodiversity under the seas,” he said.
Today, there are more than 3,000 Agritech Startups and they are very successful in areas such as Aroma Mission and lavender cultivation, said Dr. Singh. “Around 4,000 people are engaged in lavender cultivation and earn lakhs of rupees. Quite a few of them do not have high qualifications but are very innovative,” he said.
The Department of Biotechnology supports R&D innovations in the field of advanced biofuels and “Waste to Energy” technologies.
“In the future, waste will be reduced to zero. Everything will be recycled,” he said, citing the recycling technology developed by the Dehradun-based Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP) by designing a van that collects waste oil and converts it into biofuel.