India: Biotech leader in the making

The Indian biotech industry – accounting for 2 per cent of the global biotech market – has the potential to develop as a key player, generating revenues worth US$ 5 billion. The domestic biotechnology industry is now a US$ 3 billion sector, registering 30 per cent growth in 2007-08 over the previous year. Furthermore, it is estimated that this sector will grow to occupy 140 million square feet by 2010, creating employment for a million by means of its products as well as its services. Significantly, an Ernst and Young survey recognises India as one of the emerging biotech leaders, ranked third in the Asia-Pacific region based on the number of biotech companies in the country.

The biotech industry in India comprises five broad divisions:

• Biopharma
• Agri-biotech
• Bioinformatics
• Bioindustrial
• Bioservices

The Indian biotechnology sector - with its 'low cost, high value' proposition - has been growing at 35 per cent to 40 per cent annually for the last three years with over 340 companies. The domestic biotechnology industry, with growth rate of 30 per cent in 2007-08 over 2006-07, has growm to become a US$ 3 billion industry.

Not surprisingly, this sector has been witnessing heightened activity, having already attracted as many as 200 multinationals.

Banglaore especially has been at the helm of the country's biotech developments, what with:

• an increased investment of US$ 580 million with Bangalore attracting the maximum share estimated to be worth US$ 250 million; and
• an estimated demand for approximately 6.5 million square feet during 2007–10, according to Cushman & Wakefield analysis.

And, Hyderabad has been a firm anchor for India's biotech industry, with the Genome Valley Project attracting foreign exchange worth US$ 1.24 billion from pharmaceuticals, biotech chemicals and allied chemicals' companies.

The Indian Advantage

The period 2006-2015 has been projected as the 'decade of Asia' in the field of biotechnology by Dr Clive James, founder and president of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA). Apart from the existing talent pool of trained and skilled human resource, numerous scientists and regulatory experts, India's strong base for pharmaceutical research and IT services and well-educated low-cost English-speaking human capital are driving the off-shoring of bioinformatics services to India.

• Biovet, an integrated biotechnology firm launched Asia's first Bio Safety Level-4 (BSL-4) manufacturing facility, specifically designed to enable product development and manufacturing of vaccines like Foot and Mouth Disease vaccine (FMD), in Malur.
• India has ranked 1st in terms of growth in the transgenic crops sector where it registered over 200 per cent compared to the global average of 13 per cent.
• India is already the world's largest vaccine producer as well as the largest cultivator of Bt cotton.
• The Indian bioinformatics market is poised to double by 2010 – from US$ 32 million to US$ 62 million by 2010 – as per a report by research firm ValueNotes Outsourcing Practice.
• A research by Rabo India Finance Ltd. has predicted that India would become a major producer of transgenic rice and several genetically modified (GM) or engineered vegetables by 2010.