Biotech startups play vital role in India’s future economy: Dr Jitendra Singh

Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said that biotech startups play a vital role in India's future economy, emphasising that biotechnology holds the potential to become a powerful instrument of global trade.

“We had just about 50 biotech startups eight to nine years back, now we have around 6,000," Dr Singh noted while inaugurating a discussion meeting for fostering the biomanufacturing initiative of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), in New Delhi, adding that the country still needs to have more biotech startups.

India's abundant bioresources, particularly in the Himalayas, provide a unique advantage in biotechnology, waiting to be harnessed, he said.

“India’s bioeconomy was just about $8 billion in 2014 and now, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we have at least awakened to the merits of biotechnology and bioeconomy. It has grown up to $100 billion, now we are targeting $150 billion by 2025,” Dr Singh remarked,

“This is going to be the ‘future value addition’ to India’s economy in the years to come,” he added.

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Dr Singh explained that biotechnology startups represent a distinct category that combines cutting-edge research in biology and manufacturing, focusing on the processing of living systems like micro-organisms and self-cultures. As a result, these startups have the potential to serve as instruments of manufacturing as well.

“Biotechnology provides you with a milieu, an environment which will be clean, greener and more compatible with your well-being,” Dr Singh noted.

He added that over time, it also generates profitable livelihood opportunities, including bio-based products such as food additives, bioengineering ties, and animal feed products.